Wolf's Shadow and the Cawing Crows
by FireThatFox
Summary: Underneath every smile, there were teeth. Behind every hand wave a kunai. How many times had he smiled at her and waved but the smile had not reached his eyes. He knew she was not who she pretended to be because she knew, there was more to him than he would let them see. Voices meet in the form of a whisper, laid on my lips by the wind. He comes to me covered in blood, trigger aler
1. Chapter 1

"We're Genin! It is so great! We are ninja! Ninja! Yeah!"

Naruto would not fucking shut up. She wanted to fucking stab him in the throat and use his blood to write obscenities on the wall of his stupidly beloved Ichi fucking raku fucking ramen shop.

Instead, she sat like some retarded sycophant staring doe-eyed at the Uchiha. Appearances must be maintained.

Their Jonin Sensei, Hatake Kakashi, was sitting on the rail in front of them, rambling on and on about their likes and dislikes. Like he even cared. Who the hell would care about what they liked or disliked? A fucking moron that's who. They were Genin, low ranked, worthless front line fodder. She could tell he didn't really care and wasn't listening to their answers.

"What about you?" She barred her teeth at him internally but outwardly smiled hugely, like some drunkard on a Saturday night who didn't know left from right and was looking to get laid.

"I'm Haruno Sakura! What I like is, I mean who I like is. giggles**"

-_**The Crow, he who hunts in the night, the silent killer, he kills and is not seen, he is behind you before you can take a breath and gone before you can exhale.-**_

"What are your hobbies, what to do you like to do? giggles**"

-_**-Kill**_ **-**

"My dreams for the future are giggles**"

-_**To kill a Crow, see the fear in his passive eyes, to make him bleed, to kiss his lips while he dies by my hand, in my arms.-**_

"And you, how about you?" "I am Uchiha Sasuke, I don't really like anything, I don't have any hobbies and my dream is not a dream but a reality…."

Blah blah fucking blah, Looser little spoiled rich bitch Uchiha. Just because his clan was slaughtered he hates the world blah blah blah. Grow a fucking pair Sasuke! You're nothing compared to the Crow, and your family had it coming.

I mean….."Sasuke is soooo hot!" Dies a little bit inside….fuck this shit.

"Meet at dawn…' something something "Don't eat breakfast…" something something "Pass or fail...academy...sent back…." He will be at the monument, he'll be late I bet. See you at dawn indeed…..Sensei.

"Shadow clone check," poof "Go meet up with my dumbass teammates I'll be there later." She looks to the sky, dawn is just breaking. "Let's check him out and see if he is as good in person as he is on paper."

She races to the monument she hears he goes to every morning to mourn dead companions. He isn't there yet. She suppresses her chakra and waits in the nearby tree.

A moment later he walks up to stand in front of the black rock with name after name carved into it. His hands are in his pockets seemingly relaxed but she can see the slightest hint of a relief, he has a shuriken hooked at the tip of his finger. She twists her head to get a better look at his other side...damn not the right angle. She leans forward a bit and there it is, yes, another shuriken hooked at the tip of a finger.

He stands somewhat slouched as if lazy but she can tell his knees are bent ever so slightly he can move forward, back to the side or up in less than a second. Regular Jounin pouches, but a bit bulky, what does he have in there that isn't standard issued? Interesting.

The wind shifts. Fuck, his file said above normal smell. She does the hand signs in a whirl and poof! She is gone.

Hatake Kakashi turns to look at the tree she was in moments ago. Peppermint. Hum, interesting he thinks to himself. He turns back to the stone and nods. He had better get going, he has a few more hours till he should show up, he'll stop by the liquor mart for a pint on the way. Maybe something with peppermint in it.

A crow flies straight through the sky, neither looking left nor the right to the training grounds.


	2. Chapter 2

She walks along the river that will eventually lead her to the hill her team is supposed to meet at. Her clone is there so no one will miss her.

Did he notice me? I shouldn't have used that stupid body scrub my mom got me. She usually threw the damn icky stuff away but the last two times her mom found it in the trash she had gotten yelled at.

Sakura didn't care if she got yelled at. Usually, she just went over her mental list of people she wanted to murder in her head till her mom got tired of nagging her but it was starting to happen more frequently and now it was becoming….annoying. She hated being annoyed.

It was a beautiful day. The sun had broken the night and the clouds hung low making it easy to breathe. She stopped by a large rock. This was her usual spot. Sometimes she would come here to read or to practice her water Jutsu alone.

She had two chakra natures. Some might argue that she had three, but she did not consider perfect chakra control and healing to be a chakra nature.

After jumping onto her rock she stretched and gave a quick look around to make sure she was alone. She had continued to suppress her chakra as she walked through the woods because she didn't want anyone to know how much she had advance these last two years on her own.

No one knew she was an earth and water chakra nature. She found out on her own by accident one day.

_Falshback_

The girls from the academy had been picking on her again and she was crying on the bench after she had run away. Ok, she was crying on the walkway, because she hadn't made it to the bench before breaking down.

She had hated the other kids, mostly the girls. She had a wide forehead, so what? She had a big brain, had to keep it in somehow right?

She remembers that was the day she decided she was not going to let it bother her anymore. That was the day she grew a pair and stood up, fists clenched and kicked a rock. Yes, she kicked a rock the size of a basketball, and it shattered to dust before her eyes.

Sakura had run home so fast that day she hadn't noticed a crow sitting on the park bench watching her.

It was the next week she found out about her water nature. She was cooking dinner for herself because her parents were in the next town checking on one of their shops. She came from a civilian family of merchants. She had walked out of the room just once and the towel had fallen off the hook and caught fire.

She had meant to use the teleportation Jutsu she had just taught herself to teleport the burning rag to the sink but instead had called forth a stream of water and put the fire out.

It was shocking.

The next day she had gone to the library and proceeded to read everything she could about earth and water release Jutsu. It took her one week to read the entire archives and she started her self training the next day.

Out in the woods, far away from the usual places is where she trained. Thanks to the first Hokage there were a lot of dense tree laden forests with rivers and small streams.

There would be times she would train so hard she fell asleep by the river or if she knew she wouldn't be able to make it home she would make a small lean to and sleep there.

It was peaceful, and she could concentrate. After going there for a few months she started making a real cabin. It was small but her earth and water release was getting better and better so she made herself a makeshift home for when she needed to sleep in the woods.

The walls were made from rough planks she had cut with her water release, water severing wave. She had used earth style, rising stone pillars to support her planked walls and then planks for a roof. Earth style, mud wall on the perimeter sealed any chinks and made it cool in the summer and with a fire warm in the winter.

It was perfect. She would sit outside in the summer by her fire and listen to the forest. The animals got used to her presence and stopped running away from her.

There was a deer that would come sometimes and she would feed it vegetables from her bento. Squirrels made nets in the trees by her cabin and would quarrel as she practiced. There was a crow that would come watch her sometimes.

The crow was her favorite. She felt a connection to him that was different than the deer or the squirrels. One day she had tried to do the second Hokages water style, heavenly weeping.

A technique in which chakra is kneaded in the user's body, transformed into water and then shaped into senbon in the mouth before finally being expelled at a high velocity. The needles are shot in an attempt to catch the enemy off guard, while also aiming at their vitals. A Jutsu worth learning

It had taken almost all of her chakra and she had collapsed. When she woke she was in her cabin on her sleeping pallet. There was a fire in her pit that she kept in the corner with venting to the glassless window and hanging from her ceiling above her head was a take out box of Dango, tied up to keep the animals from it.

When she opened the box a note fell out: It is ok to take a break when you have come so far alone.

What the hell?

_End Flashback_

Time to practice her water style Jutsu for a little bit then she would meet up with her new team before their sensei got there. She had sensed his chakra heading for the liquor store after she teleported away and knew she was safe. He hadn't noticed her watching him. She figured she had another hour maybe two to practice.

It was easier to practice water style by the river with the existing source of water but she could make her own water using her chakra. It had taken her a year to perfect the water release technique without having to use an outside water source.

She began with something simple for her. Water clones. Taking a deep breath and focusing her precise chakra, "Water release Water Clone Jutsu!" 25 clones poofed into existence before her.

After dispersing the clones she took another breath, stretched to the left then right releasing the pressure on her abdomen and, "Water Release, Water severing Wave" high power jets of water shot out of the river, across to the other side and cut through several trees that came crashing to the ground with a horribly loud noise.

"Oh shit" She teleported deeper into the forest in the direction of the hill her clone was sitting. Chakra signatures were flying to her last location.

"Crap, time to go." Teleporting again she came up from the steep side of the hill where her teammates were waiting. She dismissed her clone and ran up the hill when Naruto and Sasuke's backs were turned looking off into the distance, where a murder of crows had just erupted.

"Man what the heck was that! It was so loud! I wonder if it was a tornado?" Naruto was saying.

Sakura sat down where her clone had been sitting.

"It wasn't a tornado idiot." Sasuke sneered at Naruto and turned around.

He gave her a funny look and she realized she wasn't staring at him adoringly. Whoops! She formed her face into a simperingly sickly sweet smile.

"That was so scary Sasuke!" She whined.

He turned back around without saying anything.

-Asshole-

"Don't worry Sakura Chan, I will protect you!" Naruto ran to her side and she almost stabbed him with the kunai she had tucked into her spandex shorts but didn't.

"That's ok Naruto, I don't want you to protect me, I want Sasuke to!" She all but yelled at him, making goo goo eyes at Sasuke's back. "He's soooo coool."

-I mean, useless-

They waited there for another thirty minutes or so till a small puff of smoke announced the arrival of their sensei.

Naruto jumped from a sitting position and almost fell over, Sasuke flinched a bit then went back to looking bored. Sakura hadn't moved or looked up just snorted, then she seemed to remember herself," Oh sensei, so sudden, you scared me." She tried to stammer.

-I can smell the liquor on you old man...is that peppermint?-

She froze in her seat. Oh shit, did he? Why would he ...impossible. He wouldn't be expecting it.

"Sorry I'm late, you see this black cat, and then so yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck as though embarrassed.

-Such a liar, terrible actor-

"Oh and Sakura. Sorry for scaring you. Next time I'll send my water clone to warn you." He gave her a big smile under his masked face and his eye crinkled closed.

-water clone hum….he knew. His smile is so fake-

"Oh no, sensei that might scare me even more." She said with mock worry that she hoped sounded real.

-two can play at this game dick-

"What are we going to do, what's our mission!" Naruto was rocking back and forth in his seat in his excitement.

"Survival test, you have 3 hours to take these two bells from me," he was saying…" until the bell rings ….."

-blah blah blah, teamwork duh, he is trying to see if we can work as a team duh-

"Go!"

Sasuke and her scattered. Naruto stayed where he was.

-he has guts, or he is an idiot-

Kakashi and Naruto play around a bit. Sakura waits under a bush. How should I handle this? Sasuke hasn't moved, where was he? Oh, there he is. Idiot. Can't suppress his chakra. Oh shit, I didn't release mine. She releases just enough for a genin of this level.

Kakashi turns toward her.

-fuck fuck fuck did he notice?-

Kakashi pulls out a book from his pack and starts to read. She nearly bursts out laughing. That's what he had in there? She can't blame him for reading, this is pathetic. A small smile graces his lips.

Sasuke throws a kunai at Kakashi and then takes off running. Moron gave away his position. She sighs, my turn.

"Sasuke? Where are you?" She runs off in the direction he went.

She feels the air change around her like she just walked into a cold room. Genjutsu, a weak one too, she almost scoffs. Her fingers twitch to make the hand sign to release it. She stops herself.

Stumbling a little for show, she watches the genjutsu play out, she knows she is supposed to scream at the fake Sasuke, "AHHHH oh no Sasuke what happened!", was that good enough. I should faint she thinks. She falls over.

Kakashi's signature is moving away back toward naruto. She does the hand sign and releases the weak genjutsu. A crow caws from a nearby branch as she goes to find Sasuke.

I have to find the asshole and make him work with me, then we can get Naruto. She heads off to the field where she can feel Sasuke's chakra signature coming from.

As she is helping him out of the ground a timer rings. Damn.

She and Sasuke walk back to Naruto and Kakashi.

"You fail...blah blah blah, teamwork….you get lunch, you dont….be back….. Blah blah" Kakashi leaves.

"Sasuke gives Naruto half of your lunch." She tells Sasuke.

He looks at her, nods then move to Naruto to feed him.

"What no, we will all fail!" Naruto protests.

"We will all fail if you are weak too, eat idiot." She says to Naruto.

Naruto takes the bite Sasuke is holding out to him and swallows.

Kakashi appears in a cloud of smoke talking in what he thinks is a spooky voice. "YOU! HOW DARE YOU! YOU ALL FAIL, blah blah, RULES, blah blah."

Sakura can't help it, she rolls her eyes, seriously? So dramatic this guy.

Kakashi stops and gives her a look. She looks at him. Shit.

She starts crying, "I'm so sorry sensei, it is all my fault, please don't punish Naruto and Sasuke Kun. "

"No, we decided together, we're a team," Sasuke says.

"Team?" Kakashi asks them.

All three of them nod.

"You pass."

-asshole-

Sasuke nods to her once while Naruto is yelling and cheering and waving his legs around like a moron even though he is tied to a post or something.

"See you tomorrow for your first real mission!" Kakashi gives his fake smile to them again.

-it makes me want to stab you in the neck and carve you out a bloody necklace-

Sasuke and Naruto have left. She hadn't realized in her homicidal musing she was alone with Kakashi.

"Well, see you tomorrow." She starts to walk away.

"Sakura." His voice is different.

She turns around to face him again. "Yes?"

He quirks one eyebrow at her.

"I mean, yes sensei?" She corrects herself.

"Why was your chakra suppressed earlier Sakura?" He asked her flat toned.

"You are mistaken, I do not have the skill to do that." She says more or less politely.

"I wonder." He is looking her up and down, taking in her stance her dress, her pack.

-This fucking guy, will he ruin everything, why couldn't she have gotten someone else for a sensei, not Cold-blooded Killer Kakashi, Friend Killer Kakashi, the Great fucking Copy nin of Konoha, Anbu Captain-

"Do you." She started to walk away again. He was in front of her before she took another step.

"Who are you?" He went to grab her arm but she lept back into a crouch.

-this fucking asshole, he did that on purpose!-

Kakashi smiled. "Well well, this is very interesting."

"I am Haruno Sakura, age 12, Genin, part of the newly formed Team 7 of Konoha, Sensei." she bowed not dropping her eyes from his eye.

He narrowed his eyes at her.

"You did ask who I was didn't you?" She asked him innocently.

"You need to work on your consistency Haruno Sakura, Genin." He smiled.

-he knows….he knows….fight or flight, fight or flight!-

"And you need to lay off the bottle on the way to train us…..sensei." She smiled.

"Your smell identifies you." He said.

"So does your twitch." She retorted.

"Who are you?" He asks again.

"I told you." She was getting bored of this.

"See you tomorrow morning Sakura-chan!" He crinkle smiled at her and poofed away.

"Indeed." She muttered to herself.

She walked down the hill, no teleporting for her right now. A crow flew out of a nearby tree heading off to the woods heading out of Konoha.

Fine, if he wants to play that game I can play that game.


	3. Chapter 3

Blood dripped down her arm and she hung upside down from the tree. Damn. She missed the target behind the rock.

She flipped back over the branch and landed in a crouch kunai shooting from her fingertips.

Clunk Clunk Clunk...Clunk

Jumping to her feet she leans over the rock, damn! Missed one again! What the fuck is wrong with me am I Naruto or something?

Her hand is still bleeding. When she came here, she had been so infuriated that she couldn't breathe much less sharpen her blades properly.

After leaving Ichiraku Ramen she had come to her cabin to train but found she was too angry to concentrate. She thought sharpening her kunai would be a good mindless task to wind down with. That's when in a moment of flaming rage at her thoughts she gripped her blade and cut deep into her fingers.

She wiped the blood onto the side of her dress and huffed. Her healing abilities weren't that great. She had no sensei for that and it wasn't something that could be learned from reading scrolls. She needed a medic-nin for a sensei.

After ripping through archive after archive she had taught herself surface healing. She could heal minor cuts and bruises and take away minor aches and pains. The cut on her hand was a little deeper than she could heal but she could heal it enough so that it looked like a few days old instead of recently acquired., which is what she was doing when her crow landed by her.

"Hi, there crow." She had started talking to him as she got more frustrated with her sensei and her team. He was a great listener.

"How are you today?" She continued to speak to the bird.

"My day could be better. I stupidly cut my hand because I lost my temper. I hate eating ramen but Naruto never wants to eat anywhere else. I think Sasuke needs to train more but he won't because he thinks he is a genius and our sensei….he acts like someone he isn't and it is really fucking pissing me off." She practically explodes.

"I'm not PMSing. The guy is a freak. He waves at us with these stupid expressions. It is so fake and creepy. He doesn't train me at all, I haven't learned a thing from him. He only trains Sasuke and Naruto and I am better than both of them!"

"I know I can't complain. I am hiding my skills and my chakra levels but still, it is really annoying. He is clever, I will give him that. He is frighteningly fast. If I am honest, I think he might be the most skilled ninja I have ever met. I hate him for it."

The crow scoffed.

"I mean today he…." She paused.

The crow stared at her.

"Did you just ...scoff at me?" She asked the crow.

It flapped its wings but didn't scoff at her again.

"I'm so frustrated I'm hearing the scoffing of crows." She hangs her head.

"I want a sensei that can show me how to do things. I am sick of learning out of scrolls."

"Why am I hiding my skill anyway. Maybe I should just stop pretending. I did it because it was my secret. When the kids made fun of me I could stand proud, I could say to myself, who cares what they think, they can't make a wall out of mud, or teleport, but you can!"

"It made me feel good about myself."

"Maybe I have pretended long enough."

"No." The crow said.

Her head snapped to the crow. It kept looking at her without blinking.

"Did you just speak?"

"Yes, don't tell anyone about your skills Sakura, they will use you, they will corrupt you."

She screamed and ran, tripped and then teleported when she saw the crow flying toward her.

Branches whipped her in the face, she teleported again, SPLASH! She flailed her arms out and went under, kicking hard she resurfaced choking and spitting. Dragging herself up the bank of the river was not fun she thought to herself.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked her.

"What the fuck!" She whirled around to face him.

"I've never heard you swear Sakura." He was laughing at her.

"What do you want?" She all but barked at him, she was still too freaked out to act like an idiot for him.

"I want to know why you appeared out of nowhere and fell into the river." He said still looking at her closely.

"You're imagining things Sasuke, but it is ok because you are so hot." She tried to throw him off but she doubted it would work. Like he said she just appeared out of nowhere and fell into the river.

"You teleported didn't you." it wasn't a question as much as it was a statement.

"No." She said wringing the water from her hair. Leave me the fuck alone man!

"He stepped closer to her and whispered in her ear, " I know you are lying, it is ok. If you don't want to talk about it here we can go to my house. I have wanted to ask you a few things for a while now."

"Sorry Sasuke, but I'm a little busy right now. Maybe some other time?" She smiled at him. "I have to go." and she ran off at top speed, so fast he couldn't follow. What the hell was that pretty boy.

He watched her go, long pink hair flying in the wind. He smirked. A crow watched from the trees unmoving and noiseless until Sasuke walked away.

"Thank you for coming everyone, as you know the Chunin Exams are coming and I need you to submit your canidates. So then, Team 7, do you submit all three? " The third Hokage asked Kakashi.

"I do." Kakashi replied.

"Wait a minute, with all do respect Hokage Sama, they were all my student recently, there is no way they are ready so soon!" Iruka spoke out.

"With any respect you may feel is due to you Iruka, they are my students, not yours and I say they are ready so step back and keep quiet." Kakashi turned to fully face him and flared his chakra. Iruka paled.

"Enough" The third said. "I accept your submission Hatake.

"I have entered all three of you in the Chunin Exams, that will be starting in a week," Kakashi told them by the bridge the next morning.

"I suggest you train hard and make sure your weapons are sharpened, get lots of rest and eat healthy." He poofed away.

They walked up the steps of the old academy where the written part of the exam was going to take place.

Once inside they made their way to the room and as they approach Sakura feels cold air float over her sandals. A genjutsu. She turns a bit away from the boys and makes the hand signs, "release" she says quietly.

Sasuke glances at her but says nothing as they enter the designated room. They look around, there are alot of people taking the exams this time around and they look decently versed. She shrugs.

Ino, Shikamaru and Choji walk up to them. Ino jumps on Sasuke, "Hey Sasuke! I've been waiting for you." She casts a glare at Sakura who smiles at her confusing the girl.

Sakura decided to stop playing the fool in love with Sasuke. She had more important things to worry talking crows. She would take the crows advice however, till she figured out what he meant, about not telling anyone of her skills.

Sasuke shrugs Ino off and takes Sakura's hand, "let's go over here." He walks away pulling Sakura with him. Ino is gasping in shock. Sakura doesn't like Sasuke but she can't help but wave at the blonde and smile.

They sit down in the back corner of the room a little ways away from the rest of the competition. They can hear Naruto babbling about something in the middle of a group of rookies like themselves and some white haired teenager.

"Sakura, you never came over to my house to talk." Sasuke starts the inevitable conversation.

"I never told you I would, in fact I believe I brushed you off." She said not really looking at him.

-not interested pretty boy, now move the fuck on-

"I'm not dumb Sakura. I know you teleported and you were trying to get away from someone." he persisted.

-mind your own fucking business Uchiha!-

"I wasn't running, I was just, it was an accident okay. I almost drown." She said finally looking at him. "I don't know how to teleport, it was an accident, I haven't been able to do it again." See easy she said to herself, make it look like an accident.

"Hn." He looked around the room. "You know, this is going to be really hard, people get hurt in these exams, people can die. Maybe you should back out now while you can." He looked back at her.

-Do you think I'm stupid, spoiled brat, I can see right through you, I'm not taking the bait-

"Yeah, maybe I should, but I'm here now, I'm going to do my best." she gave him a fake toothy smile.

"Hn."

This is easy, she thought as she finished the last question. She looked up to find a Jounin looking at her with an amazed expression on his face.

-What the hell is wrong with you, he knows you're done already! You need to work on your consistancy...fucking copy nin-

Oh well, she had been caught already. No use faking it. After all, they were the best of the best, she wouldn't be able to fool them now.

The forest of Death huh? Cool name she thought.

They had just ran through their gate and stopped for Naruto to pee.

"We need to head to the tower get close but not too close and pick off a groups till we find the scroll we need then we can head to the tower with it" Sakura said.

"How many other people do you think have that same idea?" Sasuke argued.

"Not as many as you might think that would actually do it." Sahe retorted.

"Man who knew I could go so much!" Naruto said as he came back.

Sasuke threw a kunai at him and Naruto jumped away. Sakura took two kunai and sent them flying to his head and he moved to go right but Sasuke's kunai that was thrown two seconds after Sakura's hit her second sending the first into the head of their teammate.

Poof*

A rain nin replaced their teammate. A really ugly weak rain nin.

"Nice try." Sasuke said. He looked over at Sakura, "How did you know I would send that kunai to deflect your second into your first?"

"I didn't, I guessed." She shrugged.

"Whoa! What happened?" The real Naruto was back.

"Nothing important, let head to the tower." She told him and they were off.

With the tower in sight they hid in the trees waiting for night, when the ninja let down their guard and it is the right moment to strike, or something.

Sasuke was on first watch. They had agreed he would watch and they would sleep until a group appeared or they could sense one approaching.

Sakura twitched in her sleep.

-She was by her cabin in the woods, eating a fish she had caught from the river. It was delicious. The crow was there beside her watching her eat. She finished what she wanted and threw him the rest. He stared at it but didn't make any move to eat it. Don't you want it? She asked him. He said no, I like Dango.-

She woke with a start. Sasuke was by her in a moment, "Are you ok"

"I'm fine, sorry. Weird dream. Crows." She laughed quietly because it was dark and quiet around them.

"Crows?" Sasuke frowned at her.

"Yeah, just a dream, no biggie. I can't sleep I can take watch if you want." She said with a yawn.

"Yeah ok, thanks." he laid down where she had been laying a moment ago.

Dawn was approaching, it had been a quiet night. She dropped to the ground to relieve herself when a paper bomb attached to a rodent ran toward her.

Her line kunai flew from her hip into her hand with a jerk, she spun and threw it , it hit the rodent striking it in the head with the force to flip it over twice before she snapped the line and threw the rodent and paper bomb from their tree that they were hiding in.

"Sasuke! Naruto! We have company!" She yelled up to the tree. Her boys dropped down beside her, one on each side.

"That was pretty good little girl, let's see if you can do it again." A sound ninja who had a hunchback drawled at her, he flug out his kimono like sleeves and shuriken flew at her, Sasuke jumped in front of her and deflected them with his kunai.

-hey not bad for a spoiled brat-

"You asshole! You tried to hurt Sakura!" Naruto growled at him

"We're going to do more than hurt her, we're going to kill all three of you weaklings." An ugly boy with funny hair stepped out, a girl with long unrealistic hair followed him and sneered.

"Bring it on!" Naruto charged at him and he let out a blast of soundwaves from his hands, Sakura felt more than saw it coming and grabbed Naruto spun on her heel and threw him at Sasuke to get them safely out of the way, then tried to teleport but the soundwaves made it impossible. She fell where she stood.

She struggled to her knees but she couldn't get up. She was nauseous and dizzy. She looked to Naruto and Sasuke, the jutsu had knocked them out but they seemed ok. Now for the blood thirsty sound nin. She got herself to her feet and into a fighting stance.

The three sound nin laughed and taunted her. "Such pretty hair , do you brush it twice a day?" The sound girl said sarcastically.

"You're about to die bitch, any last words, beg us and we might let you go." Kimono sleeves laughed.

"How about I fuck you up instead…" She teleported to him and cut his throat with a kunai, falling to the ground and rolling to avoid the jab from ugly hair she shot up from the ground with her feet out stretch and double kicked him in the groin, she continued to roll sideways away from him toward the girl, threw two kunai, and hit him in the throat.

He was dead before he hit the ground. She slide under the legs of the girl and popped up behind her grabbing her by that long hair , plaiting it in two, wrapped it around her neck and choked her to death.

-if only I had some tea to drink, I would sit her and toast their corpses then piss on them-

Excellent they had an earth scroll.

She went and slapped Naruto and Sasuke awake and they headed to the tower.


	4. Chapter 4

"Congratulations to all of you for making it to the next round of the Chunin Exams. For this next competition, we will be taking the winner from each match to move forward to the end round. The match is considered finished when either someone can not continue or is dead. The proctor may call any match without question that they see fit. It starts now! Go upstairs to the arena and wait for your names to be generated at random by the board." The third said.

"We don't get a break? We just got out of the forest of death!" She heard some people complain, Naruto included.

-Pussy little bitches, there aren't any breaks in life, you can't ask your enemy to hold on while you get a drink of water-

"Hey, you ok?' Sasuke was next to her asking without asking, what had happened in the forest of death and how she had managed to take out three older and more experienced sounds nin all on her own.

"I'm fine, just tired." She smiled at him.

"Sure." He said but smiled at her. "You must have been incredible. I wish I could have seen you take out three Sound nin at once."

Ino gave her a dirty look and shoved past her on the stairs making Sakura step back so she could walk next to Sasuke.

Which put Sakura right next to Kakashi Hatake.

-Fucking hell, not now.-

" Three sound nin solo? " Kakashi asked her.

"Sasuke and Naruto were knocked out. I took out one of them then got knocked out, I woke to the other two already dead.

"Hum, funny, I smell the blood of three people on you." He said playfully. "That was your first kill, right? Three kills in one day Sakura, not bad. Did you like it?" He asked teasingly.

She growled at him and bit her lip to keep from snarling.

He walked away to go talk to Naruto and Sasuke, laughing.

She leaned against the rail, clenching her fists at her sides willing herself to calm down.

-like it? Of course, she liked it, she loved it, soft, so soft, it was easy to cut them, to kill them, to drink in their fear and watch the light of their energy fade to dark, easy, so easy and so….fun-

She closed her eyes and controlled her breathing. Not here, she couldn't lose herself to the blood here, too many people.

A tap on her arm.

"Hey." Sasuke was standing by her, he had moved away from Naruto and Kakashi. "Did he say something to you? Are you ok?"

-What is up with this guy, go away damn it, I'm fine! Just trying to suppress this inner homicidal rage, no biggie.-

"I'm fine, sorry, just, adrenaline is catching up with me." She needed to relax.

"Water?" he stuck a bottle of water in her face.

"Actually yeah, thanks." It tasted fucking fantastic, she didn't even realize how thirsty she was.

She handed it back to him half gone. He nodded.

Kakashi was watching them while he pretended to talk to Naruto. He smiled and waved to her when she looked over at him. She rolled her eyes, then smiled and waved more cheerily than he had just a moment ago.

-fucking asshole-

"We will be generating the first names ...and Uzumaki Vs Inuzuka!" the Proctor announced.

"Yeah! Yeah! I'm gonna win!" Naruto jumped over the edge of the rail and landed across from Kiba.

"Yeah right looser, you don't stand a chance against me and Akamaru." Kiba said, "Ruff Ruff" agreed Akamaru.

The dog and the kid talk to one another it seems. Can people talk to animals? Can some animals talk to people? Was that crow really talking to me? She became lost in thought and missed Naruto's match. Naruto won. How the hell did that happen?

Two more matches went by, winners Hyuuga Neji and Sabaku Temari.

Sasuke was called next, he won his, no big surprise there. He was spoiled yes, a bit arrogant, yes, annoying yes, but he was talented….just not as much as he thought he was. He needed to train more.

"Yamanaka Ino Vs. Haruno Sakura!"

Are you fucking kidding me? Of course. Shit! Fuck! Damn!

"Let's get this over with." She jumped over the side to Kakashi yelling, "You can do it, Sakura Chan! I have faith in you!"

-dick-

Sakura stood there looking at Ino, Ino stood there looking at Sakura. They used to be best friends. They weren't anymore. Over Sasuke. Sakura didn't like Sasuke but it was the perfect cover to just blend in.

She started pretending to like him like all the other girls and people started to ignore her test scores, her decent chakra control and other prized skills she was trying her best to remain hidden.

It, of course, had caused a huge rift in their relationship, which, is dumb, and they stopped being friends. All Ino's idea.

The crow told her to keep her skills secret, Kakashi suspected but he didn't know for sure. Everyone was watching, at least the important people like the Hokage and the elite jounin.

Shit!

"Pay attention Sakura!" Ino's fist slammed into the side of her face. Sakura pretended to stagger back and fall.

She got up and went to hit Ino but missed on purpose and stumbled again.

She could hear whispers. Damn, some of them weren't buying it. Kakashi had told her, be consistent.

-I guess the ass hole did teach me something-

Ino was coming in for another hit, Sakura grabbed her incoming fist twisted it around, up and then pulled Ino into her own fist with just enough chakra infused into it to knock her out.

She supported Ino for a second longer than she probably should have, then let her fall to the floor unconscious.

Hooray for perfect chakra control.

"Great job Sakura! I knew you could do it! Good job!" It was Naruto. He was the only one. They were surprised. Shit.

She looked up to Kakashi, he shook his head almost immeasurably. Damn, too much? Ah well, can't do anything about it now.

She bowed to the proctor and went to join Naruto in the stands.

Kakashi never took his eyes off her, from the arena to the stands and as she passed him, he said, "Too much Sakura." she didn't stop by Naruto as she had planned, she kept walking to the other end to sit alone.

2 months later…...

It was early, she was waiting outside the Dango stand for some green tea and Dango when Kakashi walked up.

"Good morning Sakura-chan." He greeted her.

"Kakashi," She acknowledged him.

"Getting Dango?" He asked her.

"Obviously." She said.

"What are you doing after?" he asked.

"Library." She stopped looking at him, this was a stupid pointless conversation that meant absolutely nothing.

"To read?" He asked.

"Yes." She was really annoyed now.

"Mind if I join you?" He was watching her.

"Well I can't exactly stop you from going to the library can I?" She glared at him.

"Good morning may I help you?" The counter girl asked them.

"Yes, 6 sticks of Dango please and two green teas," Sakura ordered.

"Aww Sakura, you shouldn't have." He said fakely sweet.

"It isn't for you. I have to drop it off to a friend on the way to the library." She said then almost slapped her self.

-fucking idiot, you fell for it again! This guy...just stop talking to him-

The clerk returned with Sakura's Dango and tea. Thank you" Sakura paid for her food and started to walk away. Kakashi followed.

She stopped dead in her tracks. "What are you doing?" She asked him

"I thought we were going to go to the library together?" He said smiled that fake smile at her.

"I told you I have to drop half of this off to a friend." She had to get rid of this guy!

"I'll go with you." He insisted.

"You're not invited." She said rudely.

"Oh!, Do you have a boyfriend Sakura? Is it Sasuke?" He teased, fake teased her.

"One moment I have to use the bathroom." She said giving him a look they both knew what it meant. He couldn't follow her into the women's bathroom. She teleported away.

She setthe Dango down on the small table in her cabin and sat in the chair. She sighed in relief as she opened her tea and took a sip.

"Mmm nice." she hummed to herself. It was hot and fragrant, ambrosia!

She set the unopened tea on the opposite side of the table. And took out three of the six sticks of Dango and set them on a napkin by the tea.

She ate her Dango and waited. He landed on the table a moment later one black feather falling to the floor of the cabin.

A month ago he had started coming to see her more. She had gotten over the whole talking crow incident and was much calmer now.

She smiled at him and pushed the Dango closer to him and uncapped the tea.

"Don't worry I will be leaving soon, you will have the place all to yourself. I'm going to the library." She told Itachi because that is what he told her his name was.

"Thank you for the Dango Sakura." He hopped around on the table a bit.

"No problem." She broke her Dango sticks in half then threw them out the door of the cabin where they stick into a tree.

"Something wrong?" Itachi asked.

"Ugh, same stuff as usual. Kakashi takes pleasure in harassing me to no end, I can't even buy Dango in peace." She complained to her new friend.

"He follows you," Itachi said.

"No, he just sees me and thinks it is fun to bother me. " She hesitates to say more, she knew he had been following her, she had been teleporting a lot more than usual to get away from him.

"You know he has been following you."Itachi shrewdly points out.

"Be careful with him Sakura, you can not keep slipping up in front of him, he is not like the others, you don't need to be in Anbu and he will recruit you. Anbu is for the soulless. You may like to kill but you are not soulless." Itachi reminds her.

I'm not? I'm not so sure about that. She frowns into her tea.

"I should go. Thank you for your advice Itachi." She gets up and leaves.

Itachi waits till her chakra signature is gone. He can feel her back in the village proper heading to the library.

Pop*

Itachi stretches out his arms and bends over to pick up his cup of tea and smiles. He breathes in the delicious scent of the Dango and picks up a stick bringing the little pink ball to his lips as he smiles again. This was his favorite Dango shop in Konoha. She was such a sweetheart.

Itachi sat down in the chair Sakura had just vacated. He didn't want her to end up like all the rest, heartless, soulless murderers. He had seen Kakashi, had watched him kill. He relished in it, he thrived in it. He had mentored Itachi when he had been in Anbu. He was a cold-hearted killer.

No, he wouldn't let Sakura end up like that. She was too kind, deep down. She was feisty and she killed, and she was very good at it but she wasn't a monster, and neither was he. He stood and made a few blurred hand signs, placing a genjutsu on the cabin and a few protective seals.

This was their place, he didn't want people sniffing around his friend. No dogs allowed...


	5. Chapter 5

3 Years Later…..

"Earth Style, Earth rampart" a huge mountain of earth erupted from the ground. Sakura sucked in a deep breath and smiled wide.

-Fuck yeah-

"I did it!" she grinned to herself. She had been trying to teach herself this Jutsu for the last year and had little success, but today it all came together.

Itachi flew down from the tree to sit on her shoulder. "Well done Sakura" He nuzzled her neck with his beak.

"Thank you my midnight crow."She pet him on the head.

She had moved out of her parent's house three weeks ago on her 16th birthday and since then Itachi had started showing up at odd hours of the day and night. Sometimes she would be there when he came, other times she would come home to find him sleeping on her coat rack or on the light fixture in her kitchen. Sometimes he left her flowers on her pillow.

It was nice to come home and find him there, he had a calming effect on her. He kept her killing intent at bay. It was like having a very free roaming independent pet but also not, because he could talk, he was more like a person.

Over the years as she grew and read more about history and Jutsu in the Konoha library she came to realize he was probably a summons animal. Sakura did not have a summons animal she didn't have a contract with any summons animal family.

"Itachi, are you a summons animal?" She had asked him a year ago.

"Yes and no." He had said cryptically.

"You can not be both unless you are keeping a secret from me, and we are friends, why lie to me?" She said to him

"A lie is not a secret Sakura, I will tell you in time, now is not the time." Itachi had told her.

He had been a good friend and companion, she trusted him, she let it go.

"How is your training under Lady Tsunade going.?" Itachi asked her

"Don't you follow me everywhere? I thought you already knew everything I did." she teased him

"Most, not everything." He hopped on her shoulder playfully.

"It is great! She is amazing. As you know my perfect chakra control makes me the ideal candidate for medical Jutsu and I can heal almost as good as her now." She smiled proudly at him

"Yes yes, and punch holes through mountains with your little girly fists." He teased her

Her laugh rang through the forest. "You are the only one who can say such things to me and not get hit Itachi, I love you." She pet him again and rubbed her face on his wing.

"Sakura, you have become such a strong beautiful girl." Itachi winked at her.

"Woman, Itachi, I'm 16 now, and live on my own, I'm a grown-up." She pouted at him like a child.

"You're a kunoichi, but not a woman yet." he eyed her.

"I have no interest in men Itachi, I have better things to do with my time, so if you refer to sex, I'll be a girl for the rest of my life." She poked him in his side.

"You brute, don't poke me, I'm just a poor lonely bird." He fake cried

"You are not lonely Itachi, you have me."

"Yes, and you have me." He cooed.

"Kakashi is coming, goodbye Sakura." Itachi flew away.

"Yo." Kakashi walked up to her as she turned to greet him. "How is my little powerhouse today?"

"I have never been nor will I ever be yours, and I'm fine. I was training ...alone" She said to him

-Asshole always showing up when I don't want him to-

"I see you finally got earth rampart down, good one Sakura" Kakashi nodded to the huge mountain of dirt behind her.

"Yeah just now. I was just about to leave, what are you doing out here? Kinda far for a walk isn't it?" she asked eyeing him.

"We have a mission," he said and handed her the scroll.

"Assassination? I have never done an assassination mission before. Isn't this Anbu?" she handed the scroll back to him

"Assassinations are mostly done by the Anbu yes but this is an exception. We should go." He said and started walking back to the village.

His voice changed, "They are watching you Sakura and know what I know about you." his voice was flat, almost cold.

This again? So the gloves come off, fine by me. She stiffened. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you aren't as careful as you should have been if you wanted to keep your talents hidden. Want to teleport back to your apartment?" He asked, his voice level.

Ahh so that was it, someone else had noticed her and he was what? Warning her? Pft, as if he cares about her at all.

-He only cares about himself-

"Sure." she knew he knew. He knew that she knew he knew, they just rarely spoke of it. She also knew he wasn't the man he wanted her teammates to think he was.

Sasuke saw hints of the man he was but not like her. She could feel his intent, she picked up on every twitch, every eye flicker ...they were alike in that manner. Both reserved, both trying to keep themselves under control…..while losing control.

They teleported into her apartment.

"You released the seals while teleporting. My my we are talented Sakura." He watched her shift her weight.

"Let me pack my bag I'll be right back." She went to her bedroom and to her annoyance he followed.

Her bag was on her bed, she grabbed it and headed for her closet. She threw clothes and things into it and was heading to her bathroom when she stopped.

Kakashi held a small flower in between his fingers. "How pretty Sakura." he looked down at her pillow and she froze. He picked up a black feather. "And what is this?" he held the feather up for her to see though he knew damn well she saw it.

"Must have blown in through the window." she continued to walk to her bathroom to grab her toothbrush and stuff.

"A flower and a feather." He was sniffing around her bed.

\- I will not let him find out about Itachi, it is none of his damn business, who does this guy think he is?-

"You know I watch you Sakura. Tell me. Who is the crow?" He turned to fix her with a stare of such dangerous intent she almost dropped her bag. Almost.

"Crow?" she asked him " There are many crows Kakashi, and you say who, not what. Crows are not people."

"You don't know do you." his voice changed a little, it was almost sincere.

She was getting sick of his riddled way of talking and she didn't like his asking about Itachi.

"Know what?"

"Sasuke is your teammate. You know his family was massacred by his brother," he said as if she didn't know.

"uh yeah, everyone knows, he doesn't like to talk about it and it's none of my business," she said.

"You are so quick, so intelligent yet sometimes you miss what is right in front of your face." He spoke twirling the feather in his fingers and crushing the flower with his other hand.

"Hey! What the fuck, why did you do that!" She was mad, that was her flower from Itachi!

He cocked his head at her, "You care about the crow don't you." another statement of fact, he wasn't asking.

-He knows-

"This is stupid, can we get going" she threw her bag on her back and grabbed her pack tying it to her belt. It was her reaction, damn it, what was wrong with her, he always did this to her. She always tripped up around him. Damn dog.

"Of course Sakura." They teleported to the gate and started walking down the trail into the surrounding woods together, each lost in their own thoughts.

Sakura's mind was whirling. She had to think this through logically. He knew something she didn't but what. He mentioned Sasuke's brother, the massacre, the crow feather, crow as a person, the flower, he had crushed the flower.

Sasuke's brother was Uchiha Itachi, impossible…...her breath caught in her throat and she choked. It had never occurred to her, one was a person, one was a crow…..a talking crow.

"Finally got there have you?" Kakashi looked at her.

"Impossible." She ran her fingers through her hair as he watched her.

"Nothing is impossible Sakura. The trick with life is, you have to really see what you are looking at."

He was only like this with her. The boys knew nothing of his cold more deadly nature. She wasn't sure if she was happy he cut the fake crap, or threatened by the killing aura that permeated his chakra around her.

They had rarely gone on missions together but in the last two years with Naruto gone, training with Jiryiah and Sasuke going on solo missions it had been happening more and more.

"Trying to be a sensei after all these wasted years?" She glared at him. "You have only ever taught me one thing. Be consistent."

"That is the only thing you needed to learn from me, that you still need to learn," He said.

"Nothing else?" She kept walking.

"There are a few things." his eyes roamed over her body.

"In your dreams Kakashi." She sneered at him.

-I'll fucking kill you-

"I don't dream Sakura, I have nightmares." They walked on.

It was night by the time they reached the inn. She flopped down on the bed and rolled over putting her back to him.

Itachi, was it true? Was her friend really a real person, Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's brother?

The bed dipped down beside her as Kakashi joined her. They usually slept in the same bed on missions, it saved money and was more logical in case of an attack. It didn't make it easy though.

Sakura never slept deeply while next to him and she knew he didn't either. They had never fully come to trust one another. He never let her sleep with one of the boys, he always insisted she slept with him for her own safety. There were too many secrets between them.

Itachi being one of them. He didn't like Itachi, she could tell. They knew each other she realized...and he didn't like Itachi. Did Itachi feel the same? She needed to talk to him. She wanted answers but not now, not with Cold Killer Kakashi laying in bed with her. Later.

A thought popped into her head. The mission scroll said, target to be determined.

As if he could read her mind ...this is what she hated about him the most, or herself, she wasn't sure. He always knew what she was thinking. They were too much alike.

"Where do your loyalties lie," He asked her without moving to face her on the bed. "With Konoha or Itachi"

"Am I your target?" She asked him quietly, turning to face his back, her finger on her kunai, her legs ready to kick or to jump from the bed depending on his answer.

He turned to face her then, looking at her eye to eye.

"Do you love him" He asked as if it wasn't a question

"He is a crow, not a man. I do not know the Itachi you are asking me about. I only know the crow." She answered truthfully. "I am still young, I do not think of such things."

Kakashi studied her face, her breathing, her scent. She was telling the truth.

"You are not the target." He turned away from her again and pretended to go to sleep. "You may not think of such things but others around you do."

A while later, out of the dark, "You are a killer Sakura, you enjoy killing, I know. I am the same way. We are more alike than you think."

His statement was met with silence.

She had heard him. After a few minutes...

"I am nothing like you."

"You are still young, give it time Sakura."

They left before dawn.


	6. Chapter 6

It looked like something out of a picture book. It was sickening.

Women in long dresses, hair piled high walked in and out of the main house like painted dolls. Men strut back and forth much like overstuffed peacocks.

"Are you sure this is it?" Sakura looked skeptical.

"What did I say, you need to know what it is you are seeing. Look again, what do you see?" Kakashi was crouched down beside her in the small tree. It was their only vantage point.

She looked back at the colorful scene before her. A man dressed in purple stood on the corner. A woman in pink kept circling the park in the same pattern. A boy with a ball threw it...mechanically to his friend…

"They aren't real."

"Exactly."

"But why would' She fell from the tree a sharp pain in her side. The rogue nin was on her in a flash trying to very forcefully cut her throat.

Red, so much red, Kill, I'm going to kill them all. She said to herself.

A cry of pain behind her, a body falling. Kakashi standing in the distance. Arrows were raining down on them.

The rogue nin was thrown from her, she teleported to the left and cut him in half with her katana. Kakashi stood beside her and nodded.

They took off running to the main square, two more rogue nin. She jumped up into the air coming down quick but the first one dodge, the second got buried in her crater a bloody fucking mess. She grinned.

White and a flash of silver, ozone erupted around her. He landed beside her, blood rained from the sky covering half of her face and half of his.

"Thanks a lot."

"My pleasure." He smirked and they were off.

"Another' she said.

He had come up from behind her, "You smell good enough to eat little girl." She threw her head back and head-butted him, "crunch", she spun down and stuck two kunai into his knee, spun back up and put two in his shoulder, kicking his feet out from under him and landing on his chest all the air was pushed from his lungs. A short blade slid across the floor, she took it in one fluid motion bring it across his throat. Blood spray covered her face, arms, and chest.

"Maka!", a cry from a side street, feet pounding on stone. "You bitch!"

He was just a boy, but it was too late. Her back arched up into the thrust that drove her sword right through his middle as he attempted to cut her down from above.

A teleport, two men, necks broken thrown down to the ground to land at her feet as if they had been a gift. Maybe they were.

"Targets eliminated," he said.

"Back to the inn."

"River, I'm going to the river. I'll meet you at the inn later." she left.

He watched her leave.

So much blood she mused. She would have to change her chest wraps when she got back to the inn but for now...she stripped off her clothes, one bloody piece at a time and laid them by the river.

In chest wraps and underwear she waded up to her waist to wash. The pain in her side stung. She twisted around to look, a gash.

Grabbing fistful of river sand she washed the blood and grit from her body then waded to shore.

She grabbed her bloody clothes dunked, and swirled, sand scrubbed, rinse and flung them over a bush to dry.

From her pack, she withdrew an antiseptic pad and grit her teeth as she slapped it to her side and pressed the antiseptic into her would

"Fuck that hurts"

"You were careless" Kakashi poofed into existence, she had felt him slowly making his way to her location…..she was annoyed.

He made to take the antiseptic pad from her and she stepped back and away.

"You are not needed here, you can go." She glared at him.

He stood watching her for a moment, then he left in a cloud of white.

The antiseptic pad hit the ground with a wet plopping sound.

Who the fuck, what the fuck was that? The starring, the trying to help, fuck him!

"You're hurt," Itachi said.

"Itachi." She breathed out as she sent healing chakra to her hand to heal her wound.

"It is nothing. A mere flesh wound. Kakashi just left. He might still be close by. Is it safe for you to be here Uchiha?" She watched him.

'Ah. I wondered how long it would take him to tell you."

pop*

A man stood before her. Taller than her but not tall for a man. Long black hair tied back in a low ponytail. He looked like Sasuke, you could tell they were brothers but, where Sasuke was more prickly, Itachi was more refined. He was also very handsome.

"Remember when I told you I loved you and rubbed my face on you?" She burst out.

He smiled

-fuck me-

"I do."

"I thought you were a crow." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"I am also a man."

"I can see that."

"You are...disappointed?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" She really wanted to know.

"I did not wish to put you in danger. You were young." It was a reasonable answer.

"I would have preferred you to be the one to tell me instead of the damn dog." She huffed a bit.

"Wolf Sakura, never forget he is a wolf, with very sharp teeth."

"You two know one another and don't like each other." She ventured.

"We do not." He agreed.

"Why?" She asked.

"That is a conversation for another time." He brought the back of his hand to her cheek, then dropped it to his side as though he had thought better of his actions. He turned to go. He poofed back into a crow.

"I may be a crow and I may be a man, but I am also your friend. He rubbed his beak on her cheek and flew away.

She watched him go. "Itachi."

His head rose when she stepped in through the window to their room, and his eyes narrowed.

"Where is he?" He asked her quietly.

"Who?' she asked innocently.

"Itachi."

"Why would I know?"

"I can smell him on you Sakura", he was on her before she could move." you still have a lot to learn my girl, like who you should be loyal to." He pressed her up against the wall, her arms caught between them, his body flush against hers looking down at her.

He was taller than Itachi.

'Get off me." She growled."Or I will finally show you what I am capable of."

He leaned into her more rubbing his cheek against her face, where Itachi had touched her, he whispered into her ear, "Show me."

-He is fucking challenging us! Let's make him bleed!-

She infused her palm with chakra and pushed him off her across the room and through the door to the other side of the hallway.

Sending a burst of chakra to her feet she charged him, kunai in hand and missed him by a hair. He ducked and cut up along the side of her shirt cutting it in half and tying her arms back with the loose ends, he flung her back into their room.

She landed hard on the bed but kicked off and jumped a double kick in the air to his head, missed and landed hard on her back.

She was wiggling on the ground to release her arms when he brought his foot to her side, then kneeled into her ribs.

"That all you got?" He hissed in her ear.

-Mother fucking ass hole, no it fucking isn't!-

Using a chakra scalpel she cut her shirt off of her releasing her arms weaving the signs before she was on her feet, crows erupted from the air around her filling the room with birds and feathers.

A hand shot out and grabbed her bringing her back up against his chest hard enough to knock the wind out of her and she both coughed and tried to suck in air all at once.

"Release those spawns of hell right now or I'll cut your throat where we stand." His voice was ice.

She paused for a second, he brought the kunai to her throat and pressed, blood ran down her throat over her chest. She made the hand signs, "release".

He pushed her off and away from him in disgust.

"So, he taught you his crows summons did he?" He sneered at her.

"No. I taught myself. It wasn't a summons, I have no contract." She brought her hand to her throat and healed the wound.

He was giving her a cold look, "So, they came to you on their own, or at his bequest."

"I do not know, that is the first time I have used it." It was true.

'I'll ask you again, where do your loyalties lie?" His eyes were narrowed, his killing intent clear.

"Konoha, stop asking me." She was getting tired of this.

"He hasn't asked you has he? To join him." He looked at her oddly.

"Join him in what?"

"You honestly don't know do you?" He grinned a wolfish grin at her under his mask.

"I don't like you." She said and grabbed her pack and hopped out the window. "I'm going home"

The barking of laughter followed her all the way home.


	7. Chapter 7

The run home was long and annoying. Join Itachi in what, fucking copy nin, it made no sense.

But, then again, he didn't say it for no reason, he never did anything without reason. He was questioning her loyalties. Was it because of Itachi?

Clan Killer Itachi Uchiha and Cold-Blooded Killer Kakashi. She lay on her bed trying to sort out all the thoughts whirling through her brain.

Training, she needed to train. Nothing like mindless aggression and violence to sooth the killer instinct within she told herself.

Something hard stopped her halfway down the stairs of her apartment building. She took a step back and looked up.

"Sasuke."

"Sakura" He smiled a little. "I'm back from my mission." He had been gone for two months this time. The last few missions Tsunade had sent him on had been extended ones. Every time he came back he was quiet. It took him a few days to...become human again.

She didn't know what kind of missions they were but he never talked about them, and she never asked. She assumed they were Anbu, but he wasn't allowed to say if they were. Their relationship had changed over the years. He wasn't as annoying anymore and she found him to be an intelligent if not completely self-centered person.

"Training?" He asked.

"Yes." They had a relationship of few words and it was just the way she liked it. Sure they got chatty sometimes but they were usually drunk when that happened.

His hand touched the katana she held in her left hand."Left?"

"Yes."

He nodded, "Shall we?"

"Yes."

They went to the clearing dotted with a few trees past training ground 15. It was the farthest and least used training ground. It was the one they always went to together.

Sasuke removed his cloak revealing his own katana strapped to his back, an impressive sight she had to admit. He had always been handsome...like his brother, Itachi.

She met him in the middle and they made the sign for a friendly spar then jumped back away from one another. It used to be his annoying habit to follow her and try to figure out what she was up to. The things she did and said sometimes didn't make sense and he thought of her as a puzzle that he needed to solve.

He never had. Back then she never showed him or anyone, what she was really capable of. The snide comment in the inn with Kakashi was the first time in 16 years she even hinted that she might know more than what everyone thought.

Today she had to play it down. She had hoped for some real training, but Sasuke was a friend.

She eyed him from across the field.

"Just as cautious as ever I see." he teased her."

"Waiting for the woman to make the first move on you as always Sasuke?" She teased back.

"Always." He smiled and went into a defensive position.

He thought he knew her so well. She did it on purpose though. She always attacked and went on the offense after their first verbal jab. Have to keep up appearances after all.

The sword in her hand was light, fluid and sharp, she careened back and forth running at mid-speed across the field. He bent his left leg, she knew he was going to feint right, she purposely went left. She had missed her strike...on purpose of course.

It takes skill to spar with a skilled opponent but it takes a genius to pretend to let them win.

The wind changed, she could smell it. Peppermint gin. Disgusting. He was here.

Sasuke jumped high and twisted in the air coming just a half-inch from her face...because she let him, she struck out a fist to his passing shoulder and glanced at the blow, causing him to trip backward.

Righting his footing at last, she sprang forward into a predetermined punch and let him hit her in the mouth. Blood flowed over her tongue and teeth staining them crimson, she smiled. Blood excited her.

Crouching down she drew a shuriken with her right hand and punched the ground with her left causing the earth to break into waves across the plain, he jumped, she threw, it caught him in a nonvital shoulder muscle, he fell, she tripped and tumbled to his left.

They stood and made the sign for a peaceful end.

"Looks like Sasuke won this one, Sakura Chan." Kakashi dropped out of the seemingly empty sky above.

-Only because I fucking let him, but you know that don't you asshole-

"You have improved Sakura." Sasuke thought he was being a good friend, thought he was encouraging her.

-I could kill you where you stand ten times before you knew what was going on, Uchiha.-

"Thanks, Sasuke. I have been training really hard while you were gone." She giggled a little like her old annoying self, just for fun mind you.

He smiled at her, he seemed to like it when she giggled….fucking idiot.

"Want a spar Sasuke?" Kakashi asked him.

"Hn." Sasuke agreed. "Will you wait Sakura? I'd like to take you to lunch after." Sasuke offered.

She looked from Sasuke to Kakashi, this wouldn't take long, she thought. Lunch then back to training.

"I'd like that Sasuke Kun, I'll just wait out of the way ." She went to a big rock and sat down.

Kakashi smiled and waved at her with that ridiculously fake and stupid eye crinkle.

They made the sign for a friendly spar and Sasuke charged in with his sword half drawn pushing Kakashi back…..pushing him back?

-What is he up to, he could have dodged or blocked that easily-

Kakashi flipped back and out of the way of the sword using a tree's trunk to kick off, sending three shuriken at Sasuke's head, middle, and legs.

Thud thud thud

Substitution Jutsu. Sasuke flew from the tree Kakashi had kicked off of and surrounded the field in a two-layer genjutsu.

-Only two layers? So weak for an Uchiha, you're going to have to step it up a notch to beat Itachi Sasuke-

Kakashi acted like he was caught in it...his back was to Sasuke and she saw him roll his eyes. She couldn't help it, she burst out laughing and fell off the rock.

They stopped, Sasuke ran to her, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, sorry to interrupt." She stopped laughing once she had realized her mistake.

"You ought to be more careful Sakura Chan, falling off rocks is dangerous." Kakashi scolded her.

-Dick.-

"Mind if I go home and change before we go to lunch, Sasuke Kun?" She smiled at him prettily.

He smiled and told her he would meet her by the park in an hour unless she needed more time.

"An hour is fine, see you then." She went to leave but he stopped her, "Are you ok?, You seem different."

"I'm fine Sasuke, " she tried to look surprised at his question.

"Sakura and I went on her first assassination mission and just got back today Sasuke, That might be it, she was pretty scared." Kakashi "explained"

-If anyone should be scared it is you, of me, kicking your ass into the ground and then burying you with a boulder!-

"Those are too intense for her, she should be doing more healing, staying in the village." Sasuke thought he was being nice, though he was complimenting her, she thought, maybe in his own way, but he was really infuriating her.

-He thinks I'm weak?-

"See you in an hour Sasuke Kun." she jumped into the trees at mid-speed and ran off toward her apartment.

"What happened while I was gone?" Sasuke asked Kakashi.

"Nothing. What happened on your mission?" Kakashi asked him.

"All 3 rogues eliminated Captain and the goods brought back to the village. Ibiki is checking them into their rooms now." Sasuke informed him.

"Good." Kakashi looked Sasuke over, "Have fun on your….date." Kakashi said with a very cheery smile and disappeared into smoke.

Lunch had been decent. The food had been good, she loved tempura, the sake had been better, and it really was nice to see Sasuke again.

Something had happened to him on his last mission but she didn't know what. He was more reserved than he used to be, less cheerful ...more like Itachi.

Itachi. She still wasn't sure what to think of him. Could she still trust him...yes, she knew she could. Just because she didn't understand what Kakashi meant didn't mean she couldn't trust Itachi. She didn't trust Kakashi.

What about Sasuke, he would be furious if he knew about her friendship with his clan killing brother.

Sasuke had spent nearly all of their lunch trying to convince her to remove herself from active duty. To stay at the hospital where he claimed she was needed most. It hurt her, if she was honest, that he thought so little of her, but she had shown him so little of her real skill...she couldn't blame him, not really.

Kakashi though. He had seen it in her, that strength, he had suspected since the beginning...still does, that she is more than what she lets them see, and so is he.

Smoke and mirrors, friends and foes. Hard to tell one from another sometimes.

The clouds cast shadows on her balcony where she lay. It was quiet today, everyone must be out, it was only around 2 pm, her eyes slid closed.

She felt him before she even opened her eyes.

"What the hell do you want Kakashi." Her eyes were still closed.

"Wanna spar?" a whizz through the air…

She caught the kunai with her pinky finger, her eyes still closed and threw it back at his head.

"I'm resting." She sighed.

He grinned down at her, "I want to see what else you are hiding, blind fighter Kura."

She sat up, "what?"

"That was a high-rank S-class kunai catch, a blind fighting level 5 move. I want to see what else you can do," He removed his headband and focused his Sharingan on her. "Show me"

"No."

He growled. "Maybe you need a push." He hopped down from his perch.

-bring it on mother fucker! I'll wreck you!-

"I want to see what you do when you're pushed to the edge, when you're trapped," He moved closer to her, "When you lose control." He whispered in her ear.

It was out of character, she didn't mean to, it just happened. She mewled.

Her eyes opened wide and she ran. What the hell was that? That bastard, that asshole...always, why does she fall for it.

-I hate him, I hate him so much!-

If she had looked back she would have seen him grinning like a hyena, mask off and watching her like a wolf. But she didn't look back. She ran, and ran to her cabin in the woods, to her and Itachi's cabin.


	8. Chapter 8

Itachi wasn't at their cabin when she got there of course, so she trained. Water release was not as easy as Earth release for her and took her longer to both learn and perfect. The newest Water release she was attempting was Water Dragon Biting Explosion. It was a Jutsu of the second Hokages.

Sakura closed her eyes and summoned a large pool of water, she concentrated her chakra in both summoning and lifting the water into the air. The pool of water she had created shimmered, rose slightly then fell. She gasped for breath. Damn this was going to be hard.

Again. She summoned a pool of water, she gathered her chakra, she tried to focus it into a single point in the pool she had gathered, hold it, control the chakra flow, increase the pool's volume, and add more, there, raise the pool, shape it, colum, there almost, it dropped and splashed her. Damn it! She fell to the ground breathing hard.

Again….

Again….

It was getting dark and she was very tired. It might have gone better if she didn't have to suppress her chakra while she tried to learn the new Jutsu. It was worth the set back though, she didn't want anyone to know. Kakashi was an unwanted exception.

While running her fingers through her hair she sighed heavily and a little annoyed. Hair stuck to her face, she was sweaty again. Her hair was too long, it had grown a lot this summer.

Bending over the water she washed her face in the river. It felt good to get the sweat off her face. She contemplated jumping in and going for a swim but she didn't have a change in clothes, she had used them last time and hadn't replaced them.

Maybe Itachi had left some though. One time she had gone to grab her change of clothes and saw a small neatly folded pile of shirts that he had left. She thought he had left them for her since he was a crow but now she understood, they were for him.

Yes, there were three there. He wouldn't mind if she borrowed one. She stripped off her sweaty clothes and shoved them in her bag, grabbed Itachi's clean shirt and walked to the river. She set the shirt by the bank and dove in.

A small yip of pleasure escaped her as the cold water enveloped her. Closing her eyes she ducked under the surface and swam around, drinking water as she swam and feeling quite at home. Chilled to the bone, at last, she got out and sat on her rock to dry.

When she was dry she pulled Itachi's shirt over her head and laid back on the rock relaxing. The shirt was short-sleeved, wide neck and came down to mid-thigh, nice and comfy. It smelled like him too. It smelled like Dango and campfires, she pulled up the collar to her nose and breathed his scent in. It was ...nice.

The night was settling and the temperature was dropping so she made her way inside and shut the door. Over the years she had made some improvements to their little cabin. The windowless window now had a window. There was a nice thick wooden door at the front with a lock.

The fire pit was enclosed more like a real fireplace with a hooded vent, and a hanging grill for cooking. Most importantly, there was a real futon stand, a double-wide, made from wood and raised for convenience, with a feather mattress, blanket, and pillows.

Sakura threw some logs into the fireplace and used her Fireball Jutsu to start it. She had a very small Fire nature, enough for only the most basic fire style, it was quite pathetic really. With her water style, she filled the teapot and set it to boil.

Summer would be over in a few weeks, it wasn't cold at night but she was only wearing a tee-shirt so she thought she would just crawl into bed and wait for the water to boil, just for a minute. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was asleep.

Itachi opened the door to their cabin and found her sound asleep on their futon wearing his shirt. He froze in the doorway staring at her. Realizing he was letting all the warm air out he closed the door and put up several protective seals around their cabin and the surrounding forest.

Itachi stood with his back against the door watching her sleep. She must be really tired not to wake up, that's bad. I could have killed her, or worse, he thought. His tee-shirt had ridden up her legs and barely made her descent to his eyes.

Her long hair fell around her face covering the pillows with some spilling down over her face hiding one eye. She lay on her back, stretched out diagonally on the futon and he couldn't help but smile.

Without making too much noise he took off his traveling cloak and his shoes, sitting down beside her, moving her naked legs over a little so he didn't squish them. "So soft" he murmured.

Brushing the hair out of her eyes he noticed the dark bruising under them, she was exhausted. Poor thing, he pulled the blanket up from the end of the bed and covered her.

The teapot was boiling, he poured himself a cup and set herbs in it to steep while he watched the fire flicker in its place. This was one of the few places he could relax. Sometimes he came here even though he knew she was on a mission and wouldn't be there to greet him. He had left some tee shirts here one time claiming they were for her, as he was a crow.

It was nice that she knew who he was. It made things easier for him and she had reacted better than he thought she would. He wanted to do more for her. She had a rough time with training, she was almost completely self-taught. Aside from her medical training and her Strength of a Hundred Seal, she really was self-taught and she had managed to hide it from everyone, with a few exceptions.

Hatake and The Akatsuki.

Kisame, his partner had seen her, when she had been out on a mission with Kakashi, he had seen her punch the Earth, making it roll like waves on the ocean upsetting 13 nin at once while the copy nin flashed from one to the other with his Chidori taking them all out.

Kisame had seen her heal herself of a stab wound to the chest on the spot with no further ill effects, then heal the copy nin's broken finger and a head wound.

The shark fiend had recognized what a precious jewel she was and had told leader Sama, who in turn decided to have her watched.

That is when Itachi had tried to further stress the importance of hiding her skills when he had started placing high-level genjutsus' on her when he could stop in and check on her while she was out on missions. Why he had stopped in now, to make sure the protection seals were on their cabin.

There wasn't a lot he could do about Kakashi's presence in her life but he could and would try to influence her decisions. Such as not joining Anbu...ever. She deserved better than becoming just another mindless killing machine. He would save her from that fate if he could. Something he had failed to do for his little brother.

Sakura moaned in her sleep drawing his attention. She was restless and twitching. He set his teacup down and smored the fire for the night. He had removed his shirt and didn't have a sleeping shirt to change into. Moving her over a little he pulled the blanket down and lay by her side covering them again once he was settled.

She rolled onto her side pulled in by his warmth no doubt, and cuddled up to him sighing in relaxation. Itachi hadn't expected her to do this and he stiffened a bit. They had slept together before but...he had been a crow. She had never really snuggled up to him in crow form but of course, she couldn't or she would have flattened him he thought, silly.

He stretched his arm out and slid it under her head trying to relax, she was warm. He didn't think she could get any closer till she stretched in her sleep, her arm reaching out and over his chest settling there in her relaxed state and a leg came up laying over his own. His tee-shirt had ridden up around her waist and he was very aware that she didn't have on any underwear.

He tried to calm his rapidly increasing pulse and breathe normal. Maybe this was a bad idea. She was still young, and he was twenty, too old for her. As gently as possible he pushed her leg off of him and removed his arm out from under her head, rolled over, his back facing her and tried to go to sleep.

It was dark when he woke, the fire had died down to coals and cast a faint light about the cabin. It was colder and they were cuddled up under the blanket together. What had woken him up? He stayed still and listened intently.

"Hnnn, uh hnnn." It was Sakura, she was having a bad dream?

He rolled over and smoothed down her hair trying to calm her in her sleep. She sighed and her body which had been tense, relaxed.

"Fkn cpy in." She mumbled.

He had to bite his lip to keep from laughing and waking her. She was dreaming about hating Kakashi, he smirked in the dark.

He closed his eyes again and sleep returned to him. Even in crow form, he slept best if he was with her. This connection, this friendship meant a lot to him.

They woke in one another's arms. Her arms were wrapped around him, he had her hugged up close against his chest, their legs entwined, her head tucked up under his chin, and her hair everywhere, in his face, eyes, and nose. Her legs were bare, the shirt had ridden up covering her breasts barely, her naked abdomen was pressed up against his, his hands splayed across her bareback, hers on his, holding one another like lovers…...which they weren't.

Itachi had never had much time for women, still didn't. He didn't go out of his way to flirt or to talk to women like many men did, he just wasn't interested in them. Waking up to Sakura in his tee-shirt bunched up around her chest, bare legs wrapped with his, her body hugged to his bare chest, her hair falling over him slithering over his body when she breathed or twitched in her sleep, he was interested...in her.

She yawned and stretched which rubbed their bare skin together and brought about her awareness to their situation. He could have let her go at this point, at least retracted his arms that were holding her to his chest, but he didn't.

She opened her sleepy eyes and stiffened in his arms, he felt she breathe on the bare skin of his chest and he closed his eyes, it felt...warm and...good. She was taking in his scent. She knew it was him. She wasn't pulling away.

"Itachi." Her voice sounded unsure, small..adorable.

"Sakura." His voice was deep, dark and heavy, she wanted to hear more.

"Itachi." She said again, sweeter, gentler...He breathed her in, his heart racing.

"Good morning Sakura," He said with a quick tightening of his arms around her.

"You're not in crow form." It was true, he wasn't. What would she do now?

"This is nice Itachi." She whispered.

"Hn." he nodded, his chin sliding along with her hair. Sakura flowers and spring is what she smelled like. He inhaled deeply. His chest rose, rubbing against hers. She mewled, he froze, she tilted her head back and looked up into his eyes.

Fuck, he was so handsome. She mewled again as she stared into his eyes.

He closed his eyes. "Sakura, please, stop. Don't do that" He said darkly.

"Do what?" She mewled again, this time into his chest moving her leg against his.

"Please, " he was almost begging.

Itachi Uchiha begging her to stop….she loved it.

"But Itachi," she ran her hands up and down his bareback, " what if I don't want to stop, what if I want more…"

He leaped out of their bed and backed away from her. She couldn't help it, she laughed. It was too funny to her. The great Uchiha feared throughout the nations, clan killer, Anbu captain, prodigy Itachi was running and backing away from her.

She sat up in their bed laughing at him.

He frowned, "This isn't funny, it was an accident, we shouldn't I shouldn't have, I'm sorry." He threw his clothes on, grabbed his cloak and ran out the door.

"What the fuck just happened?" She said out loud.


	9. Chapter 9

Gripping Itachi's shirt she lands on her balcony.

Throwing her bag on her bed she headed for the shower to wash.

"This for me?"

She turns.

What the fucking hell is he doing here…

"Why do you smell like Itachi again Sakura?"

"I'm wearing his shirt."

-I'll gut you and use your intestines to strangle you, while I laugh in your face dog.-

"I noticed."

"Then why ask?

"Where is he?"

"Gone"

"Where"

"The fuck if I know he ran, he ran out the door and left me sitting in bed alone."

-If I tried to kill myself right now would he stop me?-

"Did you fuck him"

"If I did?"

"You would be a traitor"

"Maybe I did."

He got up off her bed and walked slowly, stopping in front of her, looking her up and down. The tee shirt was rumpled, her legs were bare, she smelled of Itachi, of herself, was she wearing underwear?

She didn't smell like sex.

"You didn't fuck him."

"If you know the answer why the hell do you ask?"

Silence

"Get out"

He leans forward, closer, she steps back.

"Get out"

"Are you still a virgin Sakura?"

"GET OUT!"

Poof

Of all the, damn it, don't cry, don't cry...Itachi, why did you leave? Don't cry….

She walks to her bathroom and shuts the door casting a sealing jutsu on the door.

A week later…

"Let me just put these away Sasuke, " Kicking the door to her apartment open she sets her groceries on the table.

Sasuke follows her in and starts unpacking her things trying to figure out where they go in her kitchen.

"Be right back" She heads to her bedroom to grab a jacket, there is a flower on her pillow. A red rose. Itachi.

"Sakura, where do you want the" Sasuke walks into her bedroom holding a bag of apples.

"Who gave you that?" Sasuke asks curiously.

"Uh, probably Ino, pig." She takes the rose into the kitchen with her, Sasuke follows frowning.

The rose is beautiful, thank you Itachi, she hums. Getting a glass out of the cupboard she cuts the stem and puts it in the glass, then fills it with water. She takes the glass back into her bedroom and sets it on her nightstand.

"Sakura? Do you, have a boyfriend?"

"What? No" She laughs and continues to put her groceries away, redoing the stuff Sasuke put in the wrong spots.

"The rose though, it's red." He said though it was an obvious statement.

"Yeah?"

"It is the kind of flower you give a ...lover." He is giving her an odd look.

"It is just a flower Sasuke." What was the big deal sheesh.

I'm overreacting he thinks to himself. I have never seen anyone with Sakura before, she isn't dating anyone. He knows he is being foolish.

"So, movie?" He smiles.

"Let's go!" She grabs his hand and they run out the door.

Sasuke looks down at their hands and smiles. Yea, he was overreacting.

A year later…

"Earth Style, Bedrock Coffin!" She screams as she makes the hand signs desperate to pull this off. Rocks rise around the rogue nin cutting her off from her friends, close in on her and crush her, blood pooling out from under the rocks.

One down two to go...move move move, there!

"Earth Style, Earth Dragon Bomb!" A huge Dragon of mud erupts from her feet striking out at the last two rogue nin, one dodged, the other is not as skilled at evasion and is buried under the force of her earth style Jutsu.

"You bitch! I'm going to cut that pretty little throat of yours!" The last one screams at her running fast up the side of a tree jumping at her with kunai in hand.

"Not if I get your first!" She runs at him, sending chakra to her feet, jumping over him, past him then falling full force upon him screaming, "Water Style, Explosive Water Shockwave!"

An unbelievable amount of water, out of nowhere floods the land creating an ocean where no water once stood. It is a Jutsu of the second Hokage, one that took her a year to perfect.

The rogue nin is hit with the force of the ocean falling on him and is crushed, blood mixed with water and rags. She steps down on to the branches of a tree, now seemingly growing up from the bottom of a deep sea.

"So ruthless Sakura," Sasuke says beside her. "You didn't even leave me one to kill."

"Next time get here faster then. First come first serve." She slips her Weasel mask back on her face.

"Let's move." She motions to him to follow.

"You got it, Captain." He lowers his Wolverine mask from its sitting position on the side of his head.

6 Months ago…..

"Get the fuck off me you scum you are going to regret this." She sneered at the man trying to fondle her.

"If you wander around at night alone like that expect to be touched, whore." He slapped her across the face. His friends were laughing looking down at her with hungry lecherous eyes, some of them rubbing themselves in anticipation.

She was laid out on the table like a turkey dinner, a toothless reprobate had her hands held above her head laughing as his friend pried her underwear off of her kicking legs. They had drugged her and taken her top and wraps off, her skirt lay shredded on the floor under the feet of her assailants, and who knew where her shorts were.

"Grab her legs," The man who had slapped her said to one of the other men. She bucked and yelled as her legs were grabbed and held in place, she felt ropes around her ankles.

They were tying her legs to the table!

They smiled at her, leering, drooling….disgusting.

-None of you are going to make it out of here alive. I will rip you open, crush your hearts and claw your corpse to shreds with my own hands to the point that no one will be able to tell you were once a man, you will be a bloody lump of mutated flesh left in the cold reality knowing the crows won't even feed off of your rotten flesh-

Slappy was pawing at her privates sticking a finger in her and crowing in triumph, "A virgin, she's a virgin!"

Toothless eased his grip on her hands to lean forward to look at her exposed pussy and she made the hand signs "Tora, Sara, Ee, Ushi, Tora, Mee"

The room drained of all its moisture, she infused the air with her chakra and formed the gathered moisture into spikes that flew out in all directions impaling the disgusting creatures, immobilizing them.

Chakra scalpel in hand, she cut the ropes at her ankles, found her shorts and her shirt, dressing slowly, looking at each monster one at a time.

"Do you remember what I said?" She asked them calmly. " I said, you would regret this. None of you are going to make it out of here alive."

Walking up to slappy she pulled her water spike from his abdomen slowly, twisting it like he twisted his finger inside her. "Does it hurt?" She cooed in his ear like a lover, "Do you want it to stop?" He screams. "Beg me to stop, and I might end it quickly for you."

"Stop, please." He begs.

"No." She forms another spike and impales him with both through his shoulders pinning him against the wall, his feet not touching the floor. She took a kunai from her pouch and sliced up the length of his arm, one then the other.

"Gravity, wonderful isn't it? Do you know why you are cold? That is your life's blood leaving your body, you are going to die soon. You are going to die in this room, this dirty, sleazy worthless room, just like you." She said each word slowly, carefully.

"I give you two, three minutes at best." She turned from him then, to the other monsters in the room.

-She watches herself ...this isn't her….she can smell the blood, it makes her choke…...she watches ...this isn't her!-

"Next?" She laughs. Flinging blood from her fingers onto the wall like some sort of morbid artist.

They are begging, crying, pleading, trying to bargain for their worthless lives.

Chakra flows to her left hand, even and measured, she knows what she is doing, this is not rage, it is precision...it is ...beautiful.

One after the other she runs her hand through their heart, blood splatters on the walls, screams die in throats, never to be heard from again.

Covered in gore she calmly walks out of the room quietly shutting the door behind her.


	10. Chapter 10

Present time…..

It had been a late night and she hadn't bothered to shut her window. She had stripped to nothing and fallen into the sheets, promptly passing out. The sun was too bright, it was trying to kill her. Hands reached out for her pillow to cover her head with.

"Ow! She sat up. What had she pricked her finger on?

A red rose, on the pillow beside her. Itachi.

Tears threatened to escape the confines of her eyes. No. She wouldn't cry. No, not over him, not anymore.

The smell sickened her as she crushed the rose in her palm and watched the ruined beauty fall between her fingers.

"It was probably very hard for him to get that to you, he may even have risked his life for it." Kakashi was sitting in her window watching her.

"Why are you here?" She looked at him.

"Mission." His gaze traveled over her bare shoulders, down her arms to her thigh that was uncovered, down her leg.

"Do you miss him?"

"What is the mission?" She ignored his question.

"A band of rogue nin what else?" He watched her.

"When do we leave?"

"Two days, Sasuke is coming with us." She turned to look at him now.

"Why? Are there that many?"

"Itachi may be among them." He was watching her closely.

"Akatsuki then?" She asked quietly.

"Possibly, will it be a problem, if he is there?" His voice is low, calculating.

"No." Her voice is strong. She doesn't feel strong.

"I can help, make you forget, even if it's just for a moment." Kakashi's voice is low but soft, almost...gentle...almost curious?

"No," She turns away.

"I can wait."

"You will be waiting for a very long time." She looks past his head out her window, the clouds are pretty today.

"He isn't coming back Sakura. You haven't seen him in a year."

"I know."

"You can't wrap yourself around a rose at night, a rose will not kiss you back...make you feel...alive." He runs his hand up her leg, he stops just shy of her inner thigh, moving slowly.

"Get out."

His thumb brushes along the seam of her panties. "Sakura." He waits, she doesn't move. He sighs, "See you in two days or when Sasuke gets back."

Poof

Neither one of them noticed the crow in the tree outside of her window, hidden in the leaves, red eyes spinning.

"I will never come to your bed Kakashi, never." She says to herself, but she isn't the only one who hears it.

As she gets out of bed to dress for the day the crow flies away.

It is dusty. It has been a year since she had stepped back into their cabin. The day he had left was the day she had stopped coming here.

She ran her hand along the window sill, dust gathered at her fingertips. Tears welled in her eyes and fell silently down her cheeks. She could cry here, the place that was theirs.

The bed was unkempt. She hadn't bothered to make it after he had left her, left her there in their bed, alone. The kettle was still hanging where he had left it, the firewood unused by the fireplace.

"Itachi, where are you?" She lay down on their bed and cried, the dust rising around her choking her like his memory.

She felt like she was going to break.

The door was open. She hadn't bothered to close it. The cabin was stale, unused, the fresh air welcome. Red eyes watched her from across the river, as she wept on the bed they once shared.

"Sakura."

Dango stick in hand, she waited for the rest of her team to arrive. This was a regular mission, no Anbu masks this time. He was reading porn in the tree not far from her, she knew he was there. He knew that she knew he was there. Sasuke didn't know.

"Where the hell is he? I thought he stopped being late all the time." Sasuke asked as he walked up.

"Yo." Kakashi dropped from his tree sliding his book back into his pack.

She rolled her eyes. Sasuke scoffed. It reminded her of Itachi when he had been a crow.

-Get your head out of your ass girl, you're going on a mission, you have to pay attention!-

They set off at a brisk pace, but there was no hurry, the rogue nin had a base, they weren't nomadic so they didn't need to be hunted down. It was recon. They were to confirm the location of the base, track and monitor its members and their movements for the next three months.

Recon usually didn't consist of a team with their qualifications but all these rouges were S-class criminals. So each person had to be able to solo if needed. Their mission was not to engage if at all possible though, so it shouldn't be an issue.

"It should take us 3 days to get there, we have an inn set up and paid for, for the three months we will be doing recon, blend in, no shinobi gear, do not engage at all costs." Kakashi briefed them as team captain, even though Sakura and he were the same rank now. There can only be one leader.

The first night they camped in a valley by a small lake. It was pretty, the lake was clear and the fish were healthy. Sasuke was in charge of the fire, Sakura caught the fish and Kakashi had first watch.

After dinner they sat around the fire, Sasuke tried to engage her in small talk but she wasn't interested. He could tell something was weighing on her mind, something was weighing on his too. Itachi. Kakashi said there was a possibility they would see him or come into contact with him.

Sasuke wasn't sure how he felt about that. On one hand, he wanted to avenge his clan, on the other they weren't supposed to engage them.

"What will you do if we see Itachi Sasuke?" Kakashi asked him, just like he had asked Sakura in private.

"I don't know," Sasuke replied truthfully.

"Will it be a problem if you have to make a choice. Your brother or us?" Kakashi asked him the same things he had asked her.

"I really don't know what I'll do Kakashi," Sasuke replied. He was being honest but, that wasn't a good answer.

Kakashi looked at Sakura. Sakura nodded.

"Sasuke, if Itachi attacks me, can I count on you to help me?" She was watching him, much like Kakashi had watched her she realized. She was watching his body language, his breathing, his pulse.

Kakashi had told her a while ago, that they were a lot alike. She had never noticed it till now ...and she didn't like it one bit.

"I would not betray you Sakura, surely you know that." He was offended.

"I do, but surely I am allowed, doubt, he is your brother."

"I understand," he said.

She looked at Kakashi, "So do I."

Kakashi nodded to her.

The inn was a nice modest inn, it was clean and the rooms were cozy. They had two rooms reserved and paid for by the village.

" I call a room to myself since I'm the only female. You boys can bunk up." She said before they could protest.

"But we always share a room Sakura Chan," Kakashi tried to protest, what a fake!

"That's because there is usually only one room, there are two now."

"I'd rather sleep with you than Kakashi, can we share ?" Sasuke tried.

"No."

"She really likes that word," Sasuke complained.

"All women do kid, get used to it." Kakashi barked out a laugh.

Sakura walked next door to her room to put her things down. After throwing her bag on the bed she went to open the window, it was a nice day out.

She turned back around to pull her civilian clothes from her bag to find a rose on her pillow. She dropped her bag with a thud.

Kakashi and Sasuke teleported into her room and found her standing by the bed holding a red rose. Itachi.

"Sakura, where did that come from?" Sasuke was looking at the flower in puzzlement.

Kakashi was growling as he looked around the room.

"Aren't you going to crush it Sakura?" Kakashi asked quietly, dangerously. His eye returning to the rose.

She looked at him, then looked at the rose, "No." She set it back on her pillow and walked out of the room down the hall, down the stairs to the tavern.

Kakashi and Sasuke followed her.

She already had a drink in her hand when they sat down beside her.

"Sake?" Sasuke asked her.

"Of course." She replied, duh ...what else had she ever drank besides Sake idiot.

The waitress came by, and raised an eyebrow at Kakashi. "Peppermint gin." He told her

"Sake, White," Sasuke said.

"Again with the Peppermint Kakashi, it smells terrible, I hate it." She really did hate it, it smelled like open ass.

"You know why I drink it Sakura."

She paused, she did?

"Fuck me." She said and facepalmed. "Are you serious?"

He grinned that wolfish grin at her again, "Only if you're serious about me fucking you."

"Hey!" Sasuke interjected, "Too far Kakashi."

"You mean, too deep Sasuke," and he winked at Sakura.

She rolled her eyes and poured herself another cup of Sake.

Halfway through the second bottle, Sasuke asked Sakura," Who keeps sending you those roses?"

"I don't know"

"Guess."

"I don't know."

"You don't know of anyone who would send you a red rose?" He was badgering her now.

-Yeah, it's your fucking brother who I'm pretty sure I'm in love with but hasn't talked to me in a fucking year after he ran from my bed!-

"No."

"It had to have been delivered in person, it was on your pillow, in an inn, that you didn't know we would be at. No one knew but me. The reservation is under an assumed name, Paid for anonymously." Kakashi said.

-You know who sent it, what are you up to you mangy dog-

"So we need to treat this as a very valid threat to your safety." He continued and Sasuke hummed in agreement.

-There it is...asshole-

"So, I should stay in your room with you to make sure you are safe." Kakashi wisely concluded.

"What?" Sakura and Sasuke said together.

"There is no way in fucking hell you are sleeping with me in my room tonight." She ordered her third bottle of Sake.

"Sakura, you need to slow down." Sasuke looked at her a little worried.

"I know how to drink and not pass out." She poured herself another cup, without spilling, she smirked at him.

"I want to forget, just for tonight." She drank another cup.

Kakashi grinned at her.

"Not like that, with this asshole." She kissed her sake bottle looking very much like Tsunade at that moment

An hour passed and it started getting late, people were leaving to go home or going up to their rooms.

"I'll take her up." Kakashi picked her up in his arms and headed upstairs leaving Sasuke to follow.

They got her into her room and he laid her on her bed.

"All joking aside, and I was joking Sasuke, I don't think she should be alone tonight."

"I agree. You watch her tonight, I'll watch her tomorrow." Sasuke left the room.

Kakashi got her shoes off and tucked her under the light blanket. He took off his own shoes and set them by hers by the door.

"Why are you doing this Kakashi, no bullshit. Are you using me?" Her words were slurred.

"No. I would not use you to get to Itachi, for starters, it wouldn't work. He is far too clever to fall for that. In fact, I think he would expect it if he didn't know me so well. He knows I would never use you like that." Kakashi was serious and she knew it.

"Why are you here."

"You're drunk."

"Answer me Kakashi."

"I have nowhere else to go." He said.

Always a riddle with this guy.

"Whatever." She turned away from him and tried to keep her head from swimming.

He laid down next to her careful not to touch her. Why was he here? Peppermint. She had smelled of peppermint that day.

"Peppermint. I knew you were there before you saw me walking up to the monument." He said

"Did you."

"Waterclone" He replied.

"What of it" She asked

"Why hide it" he countered

"The crow told me to." She said simply.

"I knew every time you perfected a new technique." He told her

"I know."

"I've been to your cabin" He said.

She sat up and glared at him. " I never sensed you."

"I hide well. You aren't the only one who keeps secrets."

"I know"

"I don't like you" He said

"I don't fucking like you either." She said.

Back to this again? Their fake truce was over.

He had woken up to a small noise. She was crying. He lay back down in the bed on his back beside her and closed his eyes.

She lay on her side facing the window, tears streaming silently from her eyes even in her sleep.

Red eyes watched her through the open window from a tree far away.

"He doesn't deserve your tears," Kakashi said to her while she slept, there was bitterness in his voice. Bitterness, jealousy, and affection.

Kakashi woke to a small hand stretching over him, her small body rolling over to settle next to his, her head on his chest. He could feel her every breath, her pulse from her wrist as it rested along his side.

He brought his right hand up and wrapped it around hers.

He had never thought he would touch a woman like this. He had only come to them after he had been driven mad with blood lust and needed a vice. He had never held a woman without malice in his heart or contempt for the blood he had been forced to spill. He was a monster. The only times he had sought out a woman was to curb the killer intent, the rage...to feel human, to feel alive.

This was peaceful and he didn't know what to do with it. So he did nothing. He lay there awake, holding her hand, her body draped over him, listening to her breath. Only then did he realize, they had both fallen asleep in the same bed for the first time since they had been teamed up.

He understood something about Itachi then. He understood why he ran, and why he kept coming back and leaving her roses.

When she woke she felt the hard chest beneath her fingers, the warm body at her side and she smiled. Itachi.

Soft lips brushed over her eyelids down her nose, over her lips. Was she dreaming? She kept her eyes closed and tilted her head up her lips found his, a mewl escaped her lips and she opened her mouth to him, kissing and biting, tongues gliding over one another's she moaned into his mouth and he deepened their kiss. She opened her eyes, white hair?

She screamed and leapt out of bed.

Three things happened all at once. Sasuke burst through the door with his katana drawn, Sharingan blazing. Sakura flooded her fists with chakra and stepped toward Kakashi about to break him in half, and Itachi flew through the window in crow form and fell into the form of a man feet hitting the ground, placing himself in between Sakura and Kakashi.

"ITACHI," Sakura and Sasuke said at the same time that Kakashi ducked, flipped, hand-signed and spit water bullets at him.

"STOP!" Sakura screamed. "ITACHI!"

It was like magic, everyone really did stop. Sasuke lowered his sword, Kakashi froze his lightning blade fizzling out in his hand and Itachi ceased his hand signs.

"Itachi please." She was begging him. Their eyes met and he teleported away leaving behind a single red rose.

She fell to her knees in tears hugging herself.

"WHAT THE FUCK SAKURA !" Sasuke screamed at her.

Kakashi was in front of him before Sasuke could reach her where she stayed crumpled to the ground clutching the rose to her chest. "Itachi."

"Let go of me, I'm not going to attack her but I deserve to know what's going on, How do you know my brother Sakura?" Sasuke was staring at her, with mixed expressions flickering over his face. Anger, curiosity, jealousy, and above all astonishment.

"We're friends, we met when I was 6 and he was 10, we're friends. I didn't know he was your brother till a year ago. He always appeared to me in the form of a crow. I thought he was a rogue summons." She was in shock, he could tell. She said it without angst or her usual wit. He believed her. So did Kakashi.

Kakashi had never asked her how they had met, or when. He was a little shocked that they had known each other for so long and it explained why Itachi would come to her when he heard her scream.

Sasuke had stopped struggling. "Tell me." Was all he said. It was simple. No anger or guilty laced the words. Just a small simple request. Tell me.

So she did. How they met, what they had talked about. She told him that day that she had teleported over the river was the first day Itachi had spoken to her and how it had scared the shit out of her. He laughed.

It was nice to get it all out but also, terrible. It was her and Itachi, their story and she had wanted to keep it private, keep it to herself.

She glared at Kakashi.

"This never would have happened if it wasn't for you.!" She was mad.

"You rolled over and snuggled up to me in your sleep, I didn't do anything." He said flatly.

"You were stroking my hand."

"What?" Sasuke glared at him.

"She isn't yours. Why are you mad Sasuke?"

"She isn't yours either." Sasuke continued to glare at the older man.

"No, she is Itachi's, who left her over a year ago, until now." Kakashi looked at Sakura still clutching the rose in her hands, blood dripping from the bottom and leaking out in between her fingers. She knew the thorns had punctured her skin, she didn't care.

A blood rose was a promise, a promise made in blood.

The plan was to spend a few days in the village under henges. They all had very noticeable features. Sasuke was the last Uchiha of Konoha, Kakashi was the famous white hair copy nin and Sakura was apprentice to Tsunade Senju Hokage and legendary sannin…..and she had cherry blossom pink hair and bright green eyes.

Before they left the inn that morning they came up with a good cover for their three month stay. Sakura and Sasuke were newly weds on their honeymoon, traveling with their merchant Uncle who had business in the surrounding villages.

This way they could be seen coming and going lazily without people wondering why they didn't ever seem like they had somewhere to be and Kakashi could travel around to the nearby villages talking to people without raising suspicion.

With that in mind Sasuke and Sakura left the inn that morning with Kakashi to get breakfast. They walked around the village checking out all the local restaurants and stands making a mental map of the place they would call home for the next three months.

The first week went by quickly and uneventfully. Their main focus had been to make their presence and their reason for it known to all the locals should anyone question why they were there.

The second week was spent getting to know the immediate terrain, the parks, woods, rivers and streams. Sasuke and Sakura under the guise of a lover's picnic took a stroll by the lake that was just outside of the village carrying with them a stuffed picnic basket. This gave them a reason to be outside of the village looking at anyone coming or going using the lake as a means of travel.

Sasuke set the picnic basket down and pulled the blanket Sakura had packed into it, out and laid on the ground over a nice patch of grass. Sakura sat down, tucking her feet under her kimono and smiling at Sasuke. Appearances must be maintained, but now it was for the mission and not to hide who she really was from those closest to her.

He set out rice balls, sauce, vegetables, sweet meats and sake.

Sakura picked up the container of vegetables and a pair of chopsticks. With the chopsticks she plucked a tomato from the container, dipped it in cucumber sauce and leaned forward to feed it to Sasuke like a good newlywed would do for her adoring husband.

"You remembered I like tomatoes in cucumber sauce." He gave her a real smile.

"How could I forget." She smiled back but it did not reach her eyes.

Sasuke picked up the plate of sweet meats and fed one to Sakura. She hated sweetmeats, but she pretended it was the best thing in the world because her new husband would know if she liked or didn't like them and she had no idea who may be watching them .

They sat like this for a long time, chatting about nothing important, light and fake. Sakura pretended to be fascinated with the local mountains but really she was looking for any tell tale signs of pathways hidden in the rocky craigs.

Sasuke looked to the woods that they walked through to get to the lake to see if anyone had followed them, his sharingan hidden under his henge.

He leaned forward and smiled at her, she leaned toward him taking the hint and put her hand on his cheek caressing it lovingly as he bent down to give her a light kiss. "We are being watched from the woods, two of them, he whispered over her lips as he kissed her lightly, then pulled away tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

Sakura had heard him, she knew they were there before he had told her. She also knew they were bandits and not shinobi. "Would you hand me a napkin dear?" She asked Sasuke sweetly false. He obliged her and under the napkin she wove the hand signs for a five layered genjutsu sending the bandits home because their houses were on fire and their wives had left them.

Sasuke laughed and drew her in for another fake kiss, whispering over her lips. "Little overkill don't you think?"

"Not at all darling, " she purred into the side of his neck.

Sasuke knew she was faking, knew this was the mission, but he loved the way she was purring into his neck, loved that he got to kiss her and have her smile at him while he did it. He knew it was fake but he loved it and was pretending it was real.

She had finished scouting the mountains and he had finished scouting that part of the forest, so after a few hours they packed up their things and made their way back into the forest.

Sakura saw the crow before Sasuke did. They were walking arm in arm like a newlywed couple would be doing so he had felt her tense up when she had seen the crow and asked her what was wrong. She fake laughed and told him she had forgotten to pack the pickled radishes and that she was so sorry because she knew he favored them above all other vegetables. He smiled and told her it gave him something to look forward to when they got home.

She frowned. She wasn't sure if he was pretending or not anymore. His grip on her arm was a little too possessive, a little too tight, he had kissed her a bit too deeply and his smiles were not fake. They still and two and a half months to go.

When she looked again, the crow was gone.


	11. Chapter 11

"We need to stay in the same room," Sasuke told her for the third time in ten minutes.

"I'm not deaf, I just disagree." She said for the third time in ten minutes.

"We are newlyweds, we wouldn't be in different rooms. What if someone sees us in separate rooms, or worse yet one of us coming out of Kakashi's room. They will either think I am gay or you are cheating on me." It was a valid truth.

They had to maintain their cover.

"You will be staying in the same room together, this discussion is over," Kakashi said.

She glared at him but she understood the levity of the situation, she was just worried as to the effects it would have on her and Sasuke's real relationship.

Thoughts were weighing her down as she tried to relax in her bath. Sasuke was in their room on the bed reading, she could hear him turn the pages of his book every now and then. She wondered what he was reading. She couldn't remember ever seeing him read anything besides a mission scroll, which led her thoughts back to Itachi.

Crow Itachi would bring her presents sometimes, mostly weapons, sometimes ribbons for her hair when she was younger and books. Books on jutsu, how to track, how to set traps, useful books. One time though, he had brought her a book of poetry. She smiled at the memory.

It had been raining all day and she was soaked, cold and hungry. When she had returned to their cabin she was both surprised and pleased to find Itachi the Crow, Dango, hot tea, dumplings, rice and a present waiting for her.

"Itachi!" She rushed into the cabin and picked him up twirling him around, "This is wonderful! Thank you! I'm freezing! I'm hungry! Too bad you are a bird and not a man, I would marry you right now!" She had been joking of course but the Crow had fluttered his wings as if nervous and then rubbed his head on her cheek in affection.

The food had been good, the company better and the book an even better surprise than it originally had been once she opened it and started reading. She had never read a poetry book, it had never interested her before then. She trained, she killed, she trained some more, that was her life.

Itachi explained while she browsed its pages that battle, fighting is like poetry, it had a rhythm, a motion. It was alive. It made you feel. Sometimes the feelings were good, sometimes they were terrifying, and how they made you feel depended on you.

Each feeling was different for a different person. He explained that battle easily causes you to lose your humanity. The more life you take the more life you lose till there is nothing left but death, waking, walking death. Itachi told her that she must maintain her humanity, that this was the most important kind of training.

"Once you lose your humanity, you lose who you truly are. Playing the part, acting the weapon, is useful but it is a double-edged blade and if not handled correctly, if lines are not drawn, it will cut your soul and bleed you dry till you become a husk of what you once were."

Had she lost herself? Did all the killing consume her? Sometimes it was like she was watching herself outside of herself, and she did horrible cruel things. The people often deserved it but….she knew, she knew she was unnecessary cruelty, and that it was her that was performing the act, the motion.

The bathwater had cooled and her body was chilled as she rose from the tub and wrapped herself in a towel. Her thoughts were now even heavier than when she had first sat down in the tub to relax. She didn't know what to think anymore. Seeing Itachi today and so suddenly when she hadn't seen him in over a year was, well, it made her unbelievably, insanely, irrationally angry.

She looked at herself in the mirror. Who was she? Was she a killer. A kunoichi, a weapon to be used by her village? Was she a healer, a friend to all, compassion and mercy? Or a cold-blooded monster who took pleasure in death, murder, and blood-lusting?

She stared hard at the reflection in the mirror. Kakashi had asked her, "Who are you?" Was this what he had meant all those years ago?

The hair, she hated her hair, the color, it was pink, she hated pink. Her eyes, so green, it stood out too much, people remembered noticed, she hated it. In that moment, in that instance, as she stood there, as she stared at herself, her reflection, she hated it, hated her reflection. It looked too arrogant, too tall, too proud, too…...unyielding and dangerous ...lonely.

She slammed her fist into her reflection and the glass shattered and fell as if in slow motion like a million stars falling from the sky, a million dreams cascading over her fist, her arm and falling to the floor.

She fell to the ground with the shattered pieces of her heart like the shattered pieces of glass that surrounded her naked form, she lay there, water glittering off her body as light stuck broken glass. That's how Sasuke found her seconds later.

"Sakura," Sasuke whispered her name as he picked her up and carried her to their bed. He drew the covers over her and wiped her hair from her face. She was asleep in moments, her soft breathing, her heavy limbs, she was exhausted. He wondered how long it had been since she had slept soundly or enough. He knew she never slept well when she shared a room with Kakashi.

Sasuke was still a little shocked over the sudden appearance of his brother but more shocked over the revelation of his brother's friendship with his life long friend, his best friend if he were honest with himself. It had been 4 years now that Naruto had been gone, Left to go train with Jiraiya.

He hadn't gotten a message or any form of communication in over a year from his former teammate and he knew Sakura hadn't heard from him in over 2 years. He himself had been gone so frequently, it was no wonder that she had found solace for her loneliness in a crow, his brother.

Why? That was the question though. He had been thinking about everything he knew about the situation, everything Sakura had told them, what he knew of her now and what he remembered of his brother. It was clear to him that his brother had chosen her to befriend and not the other way around. So why, that is what he was trying to figure out. She had been a little girl, it wasn't romantic.

She has pink hair and green eyes, maybe that is what had caught his brother's eye? It was unusual. He knew now and had been suspicious back then that she had hidden her true skill level, as well as her chakra levels.

Sasuke remembered what she had told him. That day she had teleported to the middle of the river in front of him, she had been running from a talking crow, his brother. Maybe it was her skill that caught his brother's eye? It had certainly caught his.

After that day, he had been adamant about learning more about her, she had been an intriguing puzzle that he had just had to figure out. It was something that he and his brother had always had in common and apparently they still did.

He looked over at her sleeping form. He had never seen her break down which, she clearly had just done. He didn't presume to understand her, he didn't. He was worried though, about her, this situation. His brother was bad, he was heartless, he was a mass murderer, he had killed their entire clan in one night, he had to get her away from him but how?

She had to be the one to end their relationship, whatever kind of friendship or relationship it was. His brother had listened to her, that still confused him. His brother had stopped midway through his hand signs when she had yelled at him to stop. It amazed and concerned him. She had power over his brother which meant, his brother deeply cared for her.

Another problem was Kakashi. Kakashi was no fool. He had been there, he had seen his brother, he had seen Sakura stop his brother too. What he would do with that information ...Sasuke felt ill just thinking about it. He didn't think Kakashi cared about Sakura one bit other than a quick fuck.

He knew where the Copy Nin's loyalties lay, and it was with Konoha. Sasuke knew Kakashi would do whatever was necessary to bring down an S-rank criminal from Konoha, like his brother, even if it meant using and sacrificing Sakura.

Sasuke had to come up with a plan, a way to keep her safe. He was loyal to Konoha but he had also lost everyone important to him in his life once. He had two more now, Naruto and Sakura and he wasn't going to lose them for anything or anyone, not even Konoha.

Sakura shifted in her sleep and a name escaped her lips, "Itachi."

It hurt Sasuke. It hurt him more than he realized to hear her speak his brother's name in her sleep. She cared for his brother deeply he could see that. Was she in love with him? It seemed like it but she was hard to read and he didn't want to make assumptions about something like that. Mostly, if he was honest, he didn't want to think of it even being a possibility.

He reached over and started gently combing out her hair with his fingers, it was still a little damp but he was very gentle and she seemed to like it because she sighed in her sleep and rootled farther into the covers.

"You are so beautiful Sakura." He told her while she slept.

"I'm sorry my brother has caused you such pain." He continued. It was easier to talk to her while she slept.

"I always knew you were more than what we could see, more than you were willing to show us. Naruto and I would talk about it. We would try to figure out just how strong you really were. We came up with all sorts of stupid plans that we thought were genius when we were kids. Remember the time we tried to see what was under Kakashi's mask? We thought if you got curious enough you would perform some kind of amazing Jutsu to get him to show us but you never did, you just scoffed at us and made fun of us for it."

He smiled to himself remembering all the stupid things they used to do when they were kids. How she would always get angry and hit Naruto, how she would get angry and freeze him out. How he would try to push her buttons by annoying her then ignoring her, in turn, to see if it had any effect on her.

She had always been a mystery to him. He didn't know another woman like her. She intrigued him now more than she ever had. The more he learned about who she really was the more questions formed in his head.

He continued to pet her as he thought, absentmindedly now, he sat there thinking about what he should do next, what all the recent things meant and about their mission. They would run into Itachi again. Kakashi must know that too. He needed to figure out how to handle it, what he should do about Sakura and to protect her from being used by Kakashi.

A crow sat in a tree again, staring into the room. He watched his little brother finger-comb her hair as he sat next to her in the bed. Sasuke seemed like he was thinking and no wonder. He had been thinking too.

He knew the Copy Nin too and he knew he would never use Sakura to get to him but he would take advantage of the control she had over him if they met again like they had today. Itachi knew that he had been lucky today, that the only reason Kakashi hadn't landed a killing blow while he was stunned into stillness, was because Kakashi had been stunned too. It wouldn't happen again.

"Sakura."

Itachi's heart hurt. He hadn't meant to jump through the window. His body had moved against his will and it terrified him. He hadn't been in control.

He had to do something. Let her know how he felt. He thought he had been keeping her safe by keeping his distance. He thought she knew, would understand. She needed to know how he felt about her without a doubt. He had a plan.

Kakashi knocked on their door early in the morning and Sasuke bid him enter. She was still in bed but Sasuke was dressed and reading in a chair by the window.

"How is she?" Kakashi asked him quietly. She hadn't moved a muscle as he had entered the room. She was familiar with his chakra signature but it was still a dangerous thing to let your guard down when you sleep. He was…..disappointed.

"She slept through the night," Sasuke told him rising from his chair to come to stand at the end of the bed...in-between Sakura and Kakashi.

So, that's how it is going to be Kakashi thought. You're out of your league Sasuke, for her and for me. He didn't comment on it though, he let the pup have his moment.

"When she wakes, which I hope will be soon, go hiking in the mountains to look for any signs of activity from our missing-nin. Comb the smaller dwellings you will find there for information on recent travelers in the last two months and report by evening."

Kakashi left to start his own recon of the village.

"He's always so cheery in the morning," Sakura said from the bed drawing Sasuke's attention.

"Hn."

"Thanks for getting me into bed last night, sorry." She said.

"It's ok."

"I'll be ready to go in a minute." She headed to the bathroom and shut the door behind her.


	12. Chapter 12

Blood fell dripping from her fingers as she stepped over the last body and her mind returned to her. They lay scattered and broken around her. A bloody mess.

Sasuke was on his back bleeding from the eyes, she picked him up and laid him by the fire. She had already healed most of his wounds when the last missing-nin had jumped out of nowhere sword drawn.

Earlier…..

Sasuke had gone down the stairs to pick up some food for their hike in the nearby mountains while she brushed her teeth and changed her clothes.

KNOCK KNOCK

She went to the door.

"Mornin miss," it was the innkeeper's daughter," I have a present for you, a man told me to give it to you when your friend left the room." The girl smiled wide-eyed at Sakura, her eyes full of dreams and wistfulness. Fool, thought Sakura, knowing what girlish fantasies must be running through the little head.

"Thank you. " Sakura gave her a coin and took the package weighing it in her hand and shut the door. It was small, light and didn't contain a chakra signature. She opened it slowly and found there was a necklace wrapped in the papers. Her hands froze. Itachi. It was Itachi's necklace, the necklace he never took off.

Why was he giving it to her, was it a goodbye present, or did it have a more weighty meaning. She took it in her hand, it was a delicate thing, light and beautiful, a simple chain with three ovals separated by an inch of chain between made to rest along the collarbone of the wearer. Without hesitating, she put it on. It glowed red with his chakra the moment she fastened it to her neck.

It was a Jutsu. Visions flooded her mind. A picture of her as a child training by the river, her making her cabin, a crow in a tree, her falling asleep by the river, him changing to a human and carrying her inside, him leaving flowers on her bed, him watching her from the trees on missions, him telling her to stay away from Anbu, her sitting by the river reading a book he gave her, him killing a nin on a mission that was about to throw a kunai at her she hadn't noticed, her sleeping in her apartment, him leaving a rose on her pillow, him in a tree as a crow watching her crush the rose, him outside her window last night watching Sasuke finger-comb her hair and finally him in a mirror taking off his necklace telling her he loved her.

She fell back against the wall of the bathroom. He loved her. She went to get a different shirt, one with a high collar to cover the necklace, for now, she didn't want anyone to see it.

Sasuke was waiting for her when she came down the stairs. He had their lunch packed in his bag and greeted her with a kiss as a new husband would do for his new wife and they set off toward the mountain.

The day was clear and the sun shone bright overhead. The days were getting cooler but she felt the warmth of the sun's heat on her back as they walked leisurely down the path to their destination. Again the conversation was light and meaningless.

There were few travelers on the path as they made their way up and the ones they did meet had not come from the mountains. One man and his family that had traveled from a nearby village told them there were rumors that missing-nin and bandits had moved into the smaller villages in the mountains and that they should turn back. Sakura and Sasuke thanked them for their advice and walked on.

"If that is true, we need to go with care, should we encounter them, what do we do? Our presence is supposed to be a secret this is recon we are not to engage. We should turn back." she told him

"How can we do recon if we turn back? We will be careful, but we need to see something to report." he had a point, so they continued on to the first small mountain village.

Strange looks followed them through the street. Wary looks from the women, almost hostile looks from the men and there were no children to be seen, anywhere.

"There are no children." She said to Sasuke

"I noticed." He replied.

They stopped at a fried meat stand for a snack and talk to the locals for more information.

"You have such a cute little village." Sakura smiled sweetly to the vendor as he packaged their meal into small little plates with lids, she had told them they would sit at his tables to eat but he was packaging it to go.

"It was before people like you started coming through and ruining our lives," he said heatedly.

"People like us?" Sasuke asked innocently.

"Yeah, you shinobi ruin everything," he said as he glared at them.

"Why do you think we are shinobi?" Sasuke asked the man taking the now prepared food in a bag from him.

"You said why do I think, for one, not that you aren't, and you look it, I'm a retired shinobi myself." He said.

A weak one, Sakura thought to herself, he wasn't trying to suppress his chakra, she could tell, he barely had any.

They left.

"Do you think he poisoned it? Sasuke asked her only half-joking as he pulled their food out of the bag and set it on a rock.

They had stopped a little way out of the village on their way to the next one.

"No, I was watching him." She bit into her fried stick of chicken meat.

"He might be a prick but he is a really good cook, this is delicious!" She said around a mouthful of food.

Sasuke bit into his piece and hummed his very enthusiastic approval.

It was midday by the time they entered the main street of the next little mountain village. The place was quiet. There was barely anyone on the street.

"What business do you have here" a man flanked by two to men came up to her and Sasuke as they were walking and looking around trying to be the image of a newlywed couple out for a stroll in the mountains.

"We are out hiking from the village at the base of the mountain, it is a beautiful day. Uh, is that ok? We can leave if you want, we didn't mean to be a bother." Sasuke was doing a decent impression of a civilian man she thought as he slightly cowered to what would be a stronger man if Sasuke wasn't the last Uchiha of the village hidden in the leaves.

"Turn back, you're not welcome here, but your pretty little wife, she can stay." The buffoons' eyes turned to Sakura and she, in turn, made a show of clinging to Sasuke's arm as if in fright.

-Fuck you ugly, how bout I cut off that ugly head of yours and do the world a favor.-

"We don't want any trouble, we'll just get going." Sasuke grabbed Sakura's arm and turned whispering for her to calm down, he knew she would be pissed.

The man went to reach for Sasuke's shoulder to spin him around but before he could Sakura had kicked one of the men that had been standing behind him clear across the street through a store window that had tried to grab her by the waist.

"Ninja!" The man screamed and shadows started dropping around them by twos and threes.

"Fuck," Sasuke said and that was the last thing Sakura heard before she saw red.

Everything moved at once. Sasuke drew his katana and spun to meet several kunai being thrown at them. Sakura had flown through the air blocking two men from cutting Sasuke down as he met another with his katana flipping over him to cut down another running at him from behind, his eyes spinning red.

Her mind was lost as she wove in and out, fists filled with chakra punching hole after hole through chest after chest. She dodged and jumped, kicked out and teleported. Blood so much blood.

Sasuke's scream spun her on her heel, she fended off an attack from the side as she watched a man break his arm and take his sword thrusting it into Sasuke's body repeatedly. He dropped to the ground and she ran to him.

Sasuke was on his back bleeding badly.

Kakashi sat by the fire watching her as she moved. His eyes cold and calculating. What was he thinking,,, she didn't know? She didn't care. When had he gotten there?

She had revealed herself in the frenzy of blood lust. She had lost control when they had been surrounded, blood had filled her head, she had taken a back seat and had given her blood lust full consent.

A man jumped out of what seemed like nowhere, was it an invisibility Jutsu she wondered and she punched through his heart with a chakra enhanced fist, showering her and Sasuke with more blood.

Kakashi just sat there like nothing had happened and continued to watch her with cold eyes. He knew the missing-nin was there, could have stopped him but chose not to...he knew she would take care of it, she thought as she continued to look Sasuke over for injuries.

Her task done she sat back on her heels assessing her own injuries. Nothing, not even a scratch.

"What?" She asked Kakashi, anger leaking into her voice.

"Who are you?" That fucking question again

-What are you really fucking asking me asshole-

"Who do you think I am?" She asked looking at his cold dark eye without blinking

"Me."

-Am I?-

"I am not you." She said almost a whisper

-I don't want to be you-

"You are a killer, a cold-blooded killer Sakura. I have always known." He said flatly.

"Have you."

-I am not, I can be, but that's not who I am, just a part of it...a dark part yes, but I am more, so much more.-

"Yes," he said

He looked around them. There were body parts ripped from their owners. Men lay sprawled as if thrown, their heads caved in. Bloody bodies with tiny fist-sized holes in them from front to back. So much blood. It was a massacre.

"Until now, I didn't know how much," he said.

"How much what"

"How much you really enjoyed it." He smiled at her. A real smile, one that reached his eye.

She threw up.


	13. Chapter 13

"What do we do now, two weeks into the mission we slaughtered a village," Sasuke said once they were back at the inn.

They had used a henge to cover their bloodied clothes and gotten back to the inn without notice.

"No one knows it was us." Sakura pointed out.

"You," Kakashi said. "No one knows it was you."

"Sasuke was there." She pointed out.

"They were all your kills, he didn't kill anyone." Kakashi said flatly.

The cold hadn't left his eyes since the mountain, nor had he stopped watching her. She wouldn't admit it, and she would be damned if she would show it, but it unnerved her.

"I killed at least two." Sasuke protested pissed off.

"No." Was all Kakashi said

Sasuke hadn't stopped looking at her since the mountain either. He looked at her in wonder, a little ...was it fear? Like he was looking at her now.

"I'm not a fucking monster!" She snapped at him.

"No, you're a cold-blooded killer." Kakashi said, smiling at her again.

It was unnerving still, to see the smile reach his eye, it was beastly, wild, and if she was honest arousing.

-Where the fucking hell did that thought come from, no no no absolutely fucking not happening!-

"What the fuck," She said out loud….and hadn't meant to.

Kakashi was grinning wider now like he knew her thoughts...again.

What the hell was with this guy she thought, not for the first time, she would swear he was some kind of a mind reader. Did she have a tell, something in her body language? If she did she hadn't figured it out.

"I don't think you're a monster Sakura, but I didn't know you could do, do that. Kill, like him." He meant Kakashi.

"What do you mean ." She asked him,

"I've only ever seen him kill like that, but I had never thought I would see that kind of killing intent from you. Your skill level, it's...frightening." Sasuke said.

"I've been training almost constantly since I was 6 Sasuke." She said purposefully ignoring the comment about her skills being frightening.

"But you know jutsu that only the second Hokage could do," Sasuke said

"I studied his personal training scrolls." She said

"How? They are locked in the Hokage archives" He looked at her suspiciously.

"And?" She said

"How?" He insisted.

"Itachi." She said.

"You knew him, you knew him before the massacre" Sasuke whispered

"As a crow not a man." She wanted that to be clear.

Silence.

"Whatever. I don't understand how no one knew about your abilities, don't your medical records show your chakra capacity?" He was still trying to wrap his head around this whole situation.

"I work in the hospital Sasuke, I am the Hokage's apprentice. I changed my records, and my records are top secret now." She smiled at him.

Up until now, Kakashi had been suspiciously quiet.

"They had been changed before that and not by you. You couldn't have been able to change them when you were 6 years old." Kakashi said. "I looked. Up until you were 6 your medical records showed your chakra capacity growing at an alarming rate almost doubly with every year but then it leveled off and grew normally. The notes in your records claimed that you grew into your chakra level. Someone wanted your abilities hidden" Kakashi added to the conversation.

"Who else would want your medical records changed?" Sasuke asked her.

Itachi, she thought, did you do that for me? He had told her people were watching her, did he do it to help her hide from them?

"Itachi," Kakashi said.

Cold slate eyes met green flat ones.

-Don't act like you know me, don't act like you know anything about our relationship, you are nothing, nothing!-

"Why would my brother do that for you?" Sasuke thought it likely Itachi had been the one to change her medical records too.

"I don't know."

Don't you? Kakashi's eyes said to her. No, her eyes said back. Liar, his eyes said and he smiled. She looked away.

"There will be talk, we need to lay low for at least a week. Then we can resume our mission. What do we write in the report?" She looked back at Kakashi when she said this.

What she meant was, are you going to tell the Hokage I took out an entire village of bandits and low level missing-nin, but not the missing-nin we were supposed to be watching putting the entire area on alert if the Akatsuki were nearby?

"I will report the massacre, that we know of it and we need to lay low for a time, a week maybe two depending on the talk that will transpire in the village and resume the mission when I think it is safe to do so unnoticed." He got up and left for his own room.

It had been three days since the massacre in the mountains. The locals seemed to think that the group of rouge nin and bandits were killed by another group of rogue nin that had an interest in the area from all the talk they had heard in restaurants and around the village market.

No one seemed to suspect the three henge nin in the inn. Kakashi had told them the mission would resume next week but that they should still keep their cover stories and continue to gather information but got the next week to stick closer to the village. He was the only one that would continue to travel around the surrounding villages.

A few days later, Sasuke and Sakura were in a tea house when they saw them. Sakura had just poured their tea and picked up her cup when the door slid open and they entered. Akasuna no Sasori and Deidara of the Akatsuki were shown to the table next to them.

Sasuke and Sakura's eyes met, their chakra had already been suppressed and of course, they always wore a henge when out of their rooms at the inn. As a further precaution, they also wore scent disruptors to mask their identifiable scents.

They continued their conversation on bird watching while the S-Rank supercriminal ninja sat down and ordered their tea.

"Why did you have to choose a place like this yeah?" Deidara asked his partner.

"It is relaxing and the tea is good," Sasori responded calmly.

"I wonder if they have Dango, do you know?" Deidara started looking around the room.

"The menu would be able to tell you better than I would. Why don't you look in there for your answer." Sasori was looking at the menu as he spoke.

Deidara was looking at Sakura. Sakura fake blushed and looked down to her lap. Sasuke pretended not to notice and continued to talk about birds. Deidara seemed to get bored when she refused to look back up and looked back to his partner.

"Itachi's been acting strange lately yeah? He goes off without a word and comes back all pissy hey?" Deidara said as he picked up his menu.

"I hadn't noticed and I don't really care." Sasori set his menu down and looked for their waitress. He hated to be kept waiting.

Their waitress had noticed and she made her way over to them smiling.

"What may I get you today sir?" she asked politely.

"Pot of Jasmine tea and Mitarashi Dango for two." Sasori ordered then waved her away.

"I didn't get to order for myself yeah, why did you do that huh?" Deidara complained.

"Be quiet, you are ruining the atmosphere. You will like what I ordered." Sasori was looking at the vases lining the opposite wall. The two sat there in silence for a time and Sakura and Sasuke pretended to talk about art.

"I find paper cut-outs to be much more fascinating than paintings my dear, it is so much work, such detail and so intricate. Most admirably concocted." Sakura told Sasuke who looked at her blankly for a moment.

-Idiot! Don't you read the Bingo books! These two think they are artists! What better a way to get info out of them than to provoke them into a conversation!-

"Oh really?" Sasuke seemed to have caught on by then." I find that true art can only be expressed in a sculpture."

"Hey, that's right, that is true art, yeah. A sculpture yeah. Best way to express emotion hey." Deidara spoke loudly at them to get their attention.

Sasuke inclined his head to the S-Ranked criminal and smiled a flippant smile at him.

"Indeed sir, I agree. There is something about a sculpture that truly captures the artist intent if done correctly and with feeling." Sasuke told their new friend.

-What the hell, since when did Sasuke know so much about art?-

"That is ridiculous, that is not art, it doesn't last, it isn't timeless." Sasori joined their conversation.

Deidara looked at Sakura who hadn't said anything to them yet.

"Paper cutouts are nice and everything yeh, but anyone can cut paper, not everyone can make a sculpture that can explode and leave it's impression on the earth forever."

She smiled demurely at him, "The earth can be reformed and changed after the explosion but a papercut out can be protected and preserved, there are some in archives that were done thousands of years ago." She smiled at him again

"But like it's paper and is flimsy yeah? Won't last at all, has to be protected but that is why it isn't really art yeah? It's weak!" He waved his arm around as if to put more emphasis on his statement.

"She just said that there are archives of paper cutouts from thousands of years ago. Preserved or not, weak, sure, but they have endured, they are timeless if they are continually kept as such." Sasori said as if he were very bored not looking at Sakura. "Personally I prefer something more real, that also endures, but my tastes are different."

He turns his head slowly and looks at her then, taking in henge of blonde hair and green eyes. "You would make a nice doll." He says and looks away.

"Doll?" Sasuke asks

"Hahaha ." Deidara laughs, "That's Sasori's way of hitting on your wife, right Sasori my man?"

"No," Sasori says looking out the window.

"So what are you two doing here, travelers or you live here? I haven't seen you before yeah, can't live here." Deidara continues their conversation.

"We just got married and are taking a honeymoon with my uncle who is a merchant. He has a business in the surrounding villages and we came with him. This is a very cute little village." Sakura tells him and smiles sweetly at him.

Deidara smiles back at her taking in the cut of her clothes and her body language, ignoring Sasuke.

"You must come here often to know we are not from this village, are you a merchant too?" Sasuke asks Deidara.

Deidara laughs and Sasori turns back to look at Deidara as if to compare him to what most merchants look like and if he could ever be mistaken for one. A small smiles creep up to his mouth and passes swiftly.

"You would be a failure as a merchant," Sasori says to Deidara.

"I could do it yeah? I could sell explosives hey!" Deidara looks a little offended that his partner didn't think he could be a successful merchant.

"Explosives? That sounds very dangerous, you might blow yourself up!" Sakura laughs at the thought drawing the attention of both Sasori and Deidara.

Sasuke watches this and decides the best way to get more info is if he leaves, they have warmed up to Sakura, at least Deidara has, should he stage an argument and leave?

Deidara picks up his teacup that came when he didn't notice and sipped. "Hey, this is pretty good yeah?" He says to Sasori who is already on his second cup.

"It is a good tea, they have an excellent selection don't you think?" Sakura engages Deidara in conversation again.

Before Deidara can answer her Sasuke cuts in.

"You think everything is good, my tastes are a bit more refined than yours my dear but then, you did come from a different background." Worth a shot he thinks, will she get it?

"What?" Sakura says and for a moment he is worried she hasn't caught on.

Sasori turns to observe them as Sasuke continues.

"I mean it wasn't your fault, your parents, your whole family are merchants, they didn't sample them, they sold them. My mother said, your family always had the best teas but that it was too bad you never got to drink them yourselves." Sasuke goaded her.

Sakura bit her lip and looked down to her lap as if she might cry.

-Not a bad plan, finally came up with something decent on your own, good job Sasuke-

"Hey, that was kinda mean yeah, I mean, isn't she your wife huh? Newlyweds right?" Deidara looks from Sakura to Sasuke.

"It's ok, " Sakura raises her head as though she had been hurt and wants retribution, " At least my dad didn't have to buy you for me, your dad bought me for you because he squandered the family fortune gambling and on women."

Sasori snorts at this and Deidara slaps Sasuke on the shoulder, "Haha got you there eh yeah haha."

Sasuke stands up in a huff and says to Sakura, "I'll be at the inn when you're done." and walks out of the restaurant, leaving her there with the two S-Rank missing-nin.

Sakura watches him leave her mouth hanging open then closes it with a snap, playing into the scene he has set.

"You're new husband is a dick yeah?" Deidara says after Sasuke is gone.

Sasori gives Sakura an odd sort of look, shrugs then turn away to eat his Dango.

"We've known each other since we were kids." She smiles sheepishly at Deidara.

"Fascinating," Sasori says not at all sounding fascinated. "I'm done, are we going or, are you...occupied?" He looks at Deidara then Sakura.

"You go yeah, I'll meet up with you later." Deidara gets up and sits down in Sasuke's empty seat.

"Do you mind?" He asks her.

"Not at all, better than being alone." She smiles

"So, where ya from yeah? Merchants right?" He asks her leaning forward on his arms.

"I'm from a village outside of Konoha we moved there when I was six." She smiles again, he seems to like it when she smiles.

Deidara smiles, "Oh that's what a day from here then? I'm from Iwa, but I left, too many rules I can't do my art yeah."

"What kind of art do you create? How you were talking it sounded like you make sculptures. Do you?"

"That is what I like most yeah, I draw too, sometimes I make things out of wood but I love clay yeah. Kinda a family uh secret heh." Deidara looks proud of his statement.

Sakura smiles for real, he really does like art. It is easy to talk to him, she is actually enjoying herself.

"That is really cool, I wish I could see some of the things you have created. You sound like you would be really good at it."

"Well, I am yeah! I am good at it, but I practiced hard for a long time, they aren't always perfect but it is who I am" He said and smiled at her again

It was nice to be around someone who smiles a lot and she told him so.

"It is hard is it yeah? Being married to someone you don't love, or seem to even like?" He asks her more seriously.

"Well, he is just, bitter." She looked down at her lap.

He reaches across the table and lifts her chin with a finger, "Don't look down hey, you stood up for yourself? He will learn to show you more respect." Another real smile. This was bad. This was a mission.

-He's kinda hot but he is no Itachi for sure, keep focused-

"I can handle him." She smiles, "But thanks, you're sweet.

"I am yeah!" He smiles back and takes his hand away from her face.

"How long are you and your friend going to be in the village?" She asks innocently.

He gives her a grin," Why?" He is grinning wider.

"I like talking to you. Do you live nearby I know you said you don't live in this village but I would really like to see some of your art. We will be here for a while, because of my uncle and his business but…" She purposefully trailed her sentence off

Deidara didn't answer her right away. He looked out the window. "I might be able to do that. " He says slowly as if thinking carefully which she is sure he is.

"Maybe later this week yeah? We have to leave tonight for something but I'll be back in two days." He smiles at her

"I would absolutely love that!" She exclaims.

-Toooooo much enthusiasm, tone it down.-

"Great yeah!" He exclaims.

-Fucking artists-

"I should get going but I really look forward to seeing your art, maybe I could buy one of your pieces, do you sell your art, or is it just for you?" She asks him.

"I haven't really sold much lately, I mean, they are private pieces for certain things so...but I think I could make you something yea." His voice raises in excitement, " I could make you a sculpture." He grins

A real laugh escapes her lips before she can stop herself she says," I can't wait to see you, come back safe Deidara, thanks for the conversation, it helped a lot."

He gets to his feet and takes her hand, "I'll see you soon yeah." he kisses her hand and walks out.

She watches him leave and turns back to her table. She is still smiling she realized and stops. Damn...damn. She waves her waitress down.

"May I have the bill please?"

"Oh, the gentleman that just left paid it, mam." The waitress says and walks away.

"What?" She says but smiles.

Damn.

Sakura takes another sip of her tea, gets up and walks back to her room at the inn.

A crow watches her from a tree by the tea house, then flies away.

Sasuke was waiting for her in their room with Kakashi.

"What did you find out." He says the min the door is shut and she casts the protective sound seals.

"They leave tonight on a mission, they will return in two days, at least Deidara will, he will meet me when he gets back to show me some of his art, and they come to the village often but they don't live here, oh and their base must be close by from the way he was talking but I don't know for sure or where it might be." She finished and looked at them.

Sasuke was glaring at her but Kakashi looked bored, what else was new.

"He likes you," Sasuke said.

"This is a mission Sasuke." She retorted.

"Do not engage." He said.

"She got a lot of information in very little time Sasuke." Kakashi interrupted.

"Make sure you keep your date with him, dress...nice." Kakashi got up and left the room.

"Nice?" She said to herself.

"He means seductive," Sasuke growled.

"I know what he meant, I'm not stupid Sasuke and this is a mission and I did get information, and I will get more." She glared back at him.

"Just be careful, remember who he is." He left the room.

Hands on her hips she walked to the window and looked out at the trees.

"I remember who he is, he is part of the Akatsuki, like Itachi. Itachi, where are you, I miss you."

She sighed and started looking through the clothes she brought with her. For something appropriate.

How does one dress for a date with a S-class criminal when it is a mission and you're in a henge and pretending to be married to a dick?

-fuck if I know-


	14. Chapter 14

"Sakura", "Wake up Sakura."

"Humm?"

"Sakura, that necklace where did you get it?" Sasuke was touching her neck lightly.

Sakura rolled over in bed to face him. "Your brother."

No use lying about it to him, he had recognized it.

"When? I haven't seen you wear it before this morning."

"A few days ago, the innkeeper's daughter delivered it to me for him." She continued to tell him the truth.

His finger was tracing the ovals of the necklace one by one.

"It was our grandfather's necklace. It represents the tomes in our Sharingan." Sasuke told her.

Sasuke's finger had stopped tracing the necklace but his fingers rest on her pulse.

"I have never seen my brother take it off. Do you...do you think he loves you?" Sasuke asked hesitantly, as though he didn't want to know the answer to his own question.

Her heart jumped and she imagined her pulse did too because his fingers left her neck and he got off the bed and stood facing her.

"Do you love him Sakura?" He asked her.

-Yes, absolutely.-

" We may have known one another a long time, but I don't really know who he is. I don't know if I love him. Up until a year ago, he was a crow to me. I don't even know if I can love someone." She looked at him. "Do you hate him?"

"Yes, I hate him. Don't fall for him Sakura. He is a dead man. If not by me, by many others. He will die Sakura, and not of natural death, and if you love him you will be left alone."

His eyes were hard, like that day they became Team 7 and told their likes and dislikes, their dreams for the future. It seems like a lifetime ago.

"I told you, I don't know if I can love." She repeated herself.

"You sound like him, like Kakashi. That year I did solo, I was in Anbu." Sasuke confirmed her hunch.

She was in Anbu, he knew, they had done missions together but they had never talked about his time in Anbu before her.

"He is terrifying. He kills like a manic Sakura, the look in his eye, his cold eye turns insane, a madness takes him...like he isn't there like he isn't the one doing the killing. When it is over when everyone is dead, he, it's like...he returns to himself or his body. He is death and insanity." Sasuke comes over to her side of the bed and sits down next to her

"I saw it in you, the day of the massacre. I saw the same look in your eye." He raised his hand to her face, ran his thumb over her cheek.

"I might not have known the real you but...that isn't it. You aren't a soulless killer." He leaned forward to kiss her and she leaned back.

"I know who I am Sasuke, you don't have to worry about me." She said to her lap as she stared at her hands.

"Sakura." he leaned forward taking her face in his hands, "Don't go down that path, you won't come back, it will break you."

"Am I interrupting something?" Kakashi asks from the doorway of the room that he is leaning up against.

She hadn't heard the door open, she hadn't felt the protective seals go down. She glared at him.

"Yes." and she leaned forward and took Sasuke's mouth with hers kissing him in front of Kakashi.

When she pulled away Sasuke moved forward for more but she pushed him back.

"I need to get dressed, "Leave," she says to Kakashi.

-I will do whatever I want and I will do it in front of you if I must, take that asshole.-

Kakashi turns to leave, "Meet me downstairs when you're done with whatever game you're playing with Sasuke Kun." he shuts the door behind him.

Sakura glares at the door and starts to get out of bed but Sasuke stops her.

"Sakura?" He looks at her questioningly.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke." She gets out of bed and gathers her clothes up and heads to the bathroom and shut the door.

Sasuke stands in the room staring at the bathroom door. He leaves the room and heads downstairs.

Kakashi is at the lunch bar with a glass of something. Sasuke joins him to wait for Sakura.

"She wasn't kissing you," Kakashi told him doing the hand sign for silencing under the lunch bar.

"Who then?" He asked

"Him." Kakashi said and took another drink.

Sasuke can smell it, peppermint jin, disgusting. "Doesn't matter, she can't be with him, ever."

"You don't understand." Kakashi downs the rest of the glass.

"What is there to understand, even if she wants him she can't have him, even if we were still in our village, she couldn't, because of who he is." Sasuke didn't want to have this conversation.

"You're naive." Kakashi put the empty glass down looking at it like he wishes it were full again.

Sasuke was about to ask him just what he meant by that comment when Sakura came down the stairs.

"So, what's the plan for the day, " she says stretching a bit.

"We're going shopping," Kakashi says eye crinkle smiling at her.

-jackass-

"What?' She says, "For what?"

"Clothes of course." and he walks out the door.

"Maybe he wants us to find him something pretty?" Sasuke says and walks out after Kakashi.

Sakura rolls her eyes and follows them.

A few minutes later they are standing in the busiest part of the village outside of a women's clothing store.

"What the fuck are we doing here?" She stares at Kakashi.

"Shopping." He repeats himself from earlier.

Sasuke laughs, "I'm still not used to you cursing like that Sakura, when did you start doing that?"

"I have always done it, just, in the voice in my head." She says absently looking at the store in front of them in disgust.

"What?" Sasuke looks at her worried.

Kakashi just looks at him as if to say, duh.

"I'm not going in there, there is nothing in there I want." She said.

"You are, and no there isn't but you need to look good for your date in two days, we're going, now move...now." Kakashi walks into the store.

They follow.

Sakura looks around the store and groans. Dresses, dresses, what the fuck is that things, dresses, skirts. "I'm in hell."

"What about this one?" Sasuke holds up a dark blue...thing.

"No."

Kakashi holds up a red dress that isn't too bad actually but it is too short. She shakes her head at him.

An hour later…..

"You're getting this one and we are leaving because I am in hell and want to die." Sasuke holds up a black dress with a raised collar, frog buttons along the side of the chest, slim at the waist, silk flowing over the hip area, with a slit down to the knee.

"Okay." She says, "Let me try it on to make sure it fits."

She hangs the dress on the back of the door to the bathroom and meets the guys downstairs for lunch.

"I don't see why she has to dress up for him." She hears Sasuke complaining again as she walks up and walks slower eavesdropping.

"It is for the mission, she will get more out of him that way," Kakashi told him.

"Yeah, are you going to tell her to sleep with him to get information too?" Sasuke is being sarcastic but he is really asking. It isn't unheard of but Sakura has never done seduction missions, that he knows of.

"If she has to," Kakashi said.

"She won't, she's a virgin," Sasuke says confidently.

"I'm sure your brother took care of that." Kakashi doesn't look at him.

"What!" Sasuke stands up and turns to see Sakura. "How long have you been there?"

"The whole time, sit down Sasuke," Kakashi tells him pointing to the seat he just stood up from.

"I'm not going to sleep with him Sasuke and no, I haven't done seduction missions." She reassures him.

"Are you still a virgin?" Sasuke asks her, it was the only one she hadn't answered.

"That is none of your business!" She snaps at him.

"She is. I was just teasing you." Kakashi says.

"How the hell would you know" Sasuke glares at him...again.

"A man can tell." A vague answer.

"Can we talk about something else please" Sakura sighs.

"Stay on the mission, in two days you have your date, get him to tell you where their base is if you can. Flirt with him." Kakashi stands up and leaves.

2 Days later…..

Sasuke and Sakura are sitting having breakfast at their inn. Sasuke is in a blue tee-shirt and a blazer with jeans and Sakura has on the black dress with an unzipped red hoodie and black boots.

"I was going to go check out the forest by the abandoned mill today, if you don't mind," Sakura tells Sasuke when she sees a man with light brown hair walk by them for the third time in ten minutes.

Deidara is in a henge she thinks to herself. Best to get out of here on my own or get rid of Sasuke.

"I can go with you," Sasuke says not getting the hint.

"I want to go by myself." She says a hint of anger in her voice.

-Fucking idiot you know what day it is-

"Fine go by yourself I don't care. Stay out all day, all night, I don't care and he gets up and leaves." Okay, maybe he did get the hint?

She sits there for a minute, then pays and leaves headed for the mill mumbling to herself, "Fine maybe I will stay out all day, maybe I'll get a room at another inn for all you care, you probably wouldn't care if I never came back asshole."

He's hardly suppressing his chakra, he thinks I'm a civilian why would he suppress it. Deidara is about 20 feet behind her in his henge. She smiles to herself, too easy.

It looks like rain, she wonders if it will rain, that could ruin this scheme of theirs for today. It is rocky by the mill, it was built at the edge of the mountains using the waterfall as a power source before it was abandoned. It is a beautiful structure, she admires it as she approaches. Careful not to trip on the rocks she slowly, like a civilian, makes her way to the side of the mill's wheel and sits by the edge of the river looking up at the motionless wheel.

"Beautiful place yeah?" Deidara says still in his henge.

She stands up and makes a show of backing away from him a worried look on her face, she trips on a rock behind her and his hand shoots out and grabs her dragging her into his arms.

-Smooth, really smooth buddy-

"Let me go, " She fake pushes away from him bringing her hands up to lay flat against his chest and pushes him weakly.

"You're not a very good actress you know." The Jutsu fades away and he looks like him again.

"What do you mean?", her palms flat on his chest gripping the fabric of his long-sleeved tee-shirt, his arms still around her.

Deidara smiles down at her.

-Um, hey buddy, you gonna let me go or what?-

"You need to be careful, not all the Akatsuki are as nice as I am. They would have called you out on your little game instantly. I don't mind though." He ran his hands down her back to her waist and then let go of her.

"Nice dress yeah." He grins

She blushed and stepped back a little.

"What's with the henge then?" She waved a hand up and down to indicate his appearance change.

"I like a little role playing sometimes too.." He grinned at her.

"So, now that you know, what now?" She tries to look stupid and confused.

"I was going to show you my art right? You were interested in it I could tell. No reason why we can't get along, it's just us out here now, Sasori doesn't care." He grinned at her.

She turned to walk away from him.

He caught up to her immediately of course, like she had expected and grabbed her hand.

"You don't have to be afraid of me, I won't hurt you yeah. I left because they tried to control my creativity, you can't control true art hey?" He smiled at her.

"I'm sorry, I just last week the village in the mountains, there was a massacre. They ...they said missing-nin did it. Was that the Akatsuki?" She looked up at him

-Fuck yeah I'm good, should have been a Kabuki actress! Too bad about being a kunoichi haha-

"It wasn't me, I swear, I mean. I'm a shinobi, I have killed people, I do kill people but, they deserve it yeah. I didn't have anything to do with that." He looks at her with big blue eyes.

-we like dark serene eyes-

"Oh, good I'm sorry, I just, if you were I guess I would already be dead by now." She said looking at him seriously

"Whoever did that was insane yeah, punched right through them it looked like, must have been a couple of rouge nin we didn't know about. People tried blaming me and my friends for it yeah!" He told her as though he expected her to feel sympathy for him and his friends.

He smiled at her. "Want to go sit down over by the mill?"

"Sure" she smiles at him. He had a nice way of talking, it was somehow straight forward if that made sense. She mentally laughed at herself.

They sat down on the wooden platform that the mill probably used to use as a docking area for boats to take the flour down the river.

"It is really pretty here, you told me you draw sometimes, would you draw something like this or do you draw people?" She turned to him and smiled, she remembered he liked it when she smiled.

" I could draw this he says, it is pretty, like you. I prefer sculpting though, like this yeah," He pulls out a little sculpted person. It was her, in her henge.

She lets out a very real cry of delight. "Wow! Oh my gosh! This is amazing! You really did this? How beautiful, it's me! It has my clothes oh my gosh, that is my facial expression! You are amazing Deidara!" She throws her arms around him and hugs him, maybe a little too tightly.

He is grinning again when she lets him go."I thought you might like it, more personal yeah, not like a vase or a cat yeah." He smiles at her again happy she likes it so much.

"How much do you want for it, I love it!" She reaches to her waist for her purse.

"No money, I don't want money. I have lots of money yeah." He laughs

"Then?" She tilts her head to the side as if confused.

-I'm not going to fuck you yeah-

"I'll take a kiss yeah, just a little one? Why don't you take down your henge, let me see what you really look like?" He grins at her, or he hasn't stopped grinning she isn't sure.

"I'm can't Deidara, we're enemies technically, remember?" She laughs at him a bit.

"Just a kiss, just one. Promise I will keep my hands behind my back yeah?" He give her puppy dog eyes and puts his hands behind his back.

"Okay but, don't tell anyone okay?" She smiles at him.

"I promise ." He says.

"Close your eyes." She grins at him

He gives her a calculating look then closes his eyes and she drops her henge.

She leans forward and touches his lips with hers very gently at first then leaning into him a bit resting one hand on his chest she licks his bottom lip then starts to lean back when his arms whip around from his back and he presses her to him deepening the kiss. His tongue pushes into her mouth sliding over hers drawing her tongue out of her mouth into his, he sucks her bottom lip and bites it gently before releasing her.

Her eyes are closed and she is breathing hard short breaths. "Dei…" she starts to say when he leaned in again taking her hand that is on his chest in his and kisses her again, longer more forcefully then backs up.

She opened her eyes and looked at him with a small smile on her face. "I like the pink hair, and green eyes, much better with pink hair than blonde."

Deidara is grinning at her, while still holding her hand he digs in his pocket with the other hand and pulls out a little bird sculpture.

"I needed two kisses because I made this for you too. " He smiles and hands the bird to her.

"I need my hand." She laughs.

"You have two hands yeah, use the other one." He won't stop grinning at her

-Doesn't that hurt your face grinning like that so much-

She holds out her other hand and he places the bird in it. It is beautiful, the detail is exquisite. It is...thoughtful of him. She almost regrets what she is doing, her mission.

"Deidara, it is beautiful, they both are, it's...really thoughtful of you." She whispers. Tears fall from her eyes surprising her.

Backing away from him, taking her hand from his she stutters" I'm so sorry."

-What the fuck do you think you are doing. He means nothing, this is fake. It is fake! What the fuck is wrong with you! We love Itachi! This isn't real!-

"Why don't you run away, do you have money? You could leave, you said you had some money right? I could give you some yeah. Not everyone belongs in a village, you deserve better I can tell yeah. You're just a tool to them, to be used." The concern in his eyes is too much, she has to look away.

This was not part of the plan, why is he so nice, the kiss, it was really good. She has to stop this, now.

"No. I can't. It would disgrace my parents. I can't do that to them. Thank you for the sculptures Deidara, I love them." She tries to smile at him. " I should go. I shouldn't have...I shouldn't have come here with you."

" What if something happened to you? I could make an identical sculpture of you and kill it, make it look real, yeah, then you would be free." He looks at her hope in his eyes.

-He is so sweet, is he really part of the Akatsuki? This is a surprise. Are they really as bad as people say?-

"My village," She started to say.

"Sent you out here to seduce me! Look I know your situation I heard the Copy nin, I like you, I want to help you."

Without thinking again, "I haven't done a seduction mission before."

"No?" He was grinning again.

"No." she had already said it, why not keep going with it. Remember to blush she told herself.

She blushed and looked down to her hands and bit her lip.

He brought her face up to look into her eyes. She tried to look away, there was too much emotion there. She was going to hurt him, this wasn't how it was supposed to be. He was supposed to be evil and ruthless, but he was a decent person. He was trying to help a stranger in a bad situation. No, not at all what she had expected.

"They sent you out here with me on impulse?" He held her chin in his hand and was studying her.

"Yes,because, they thought I could get the most information out of you." She kept his gaze with her eyes, she felt guilty. She felt bad.

"You deserve more." He said

"You don't even know my name." She whispered.

"Sakura." He whispered.

"But how."

"Itachi told me?" He smiled

"How do you know my name?" He kissed her lightly.

"You're in the bingo book." She said into his mouth and kissed him back.

"Do you kiss Itachi like this? I get the impression you are sorta together. " Another kiss, a bite to her lip, a swish of his tongue.

"I haven't seen him in over a year.." She licked his top lip and deepened their kiss her hands now gripping the fabric of his shirt pulling him to her.

"Let me take you from him, I can help you. Let me help you Sakura." Her heart broke and she started crying again. " Please ." He said and lowered her to the ground kissing her neck his hand on her cheek one on the other side of her neck turning her head so he could kiss her neck better.

A small mewl escaped her lips and he pressed his body into hers. "Let me do this for you, I want to help you. Don't cry yeah."

She pushed at him a little, "Deidara I can't. I'm so sorry. I can't" She sat up and he let her.

"I'm sorry," She said again, "If I leave, if you faked my death, my village, all my friends, I love my village. I can't."

"I understand Sakura yeah. I do. If you change your mind… here" He held out a small bird much like the bigger one he had made her. "If you need to get ahold of me, if you are ever in trouble, just rub a drop of your blood onto him and he will find me wherever I am, just the little one, the bigger one is just a sculpture okay? I will find you yeah? I know Itachi watches you but, if he isn't around, use this." He looked so sincere, his offer was...too much.

Maybe it was her inexperience with men but this seemed too much too soon.. "Thank you Deidara."

"I'll walk you back to the inn yeah." He smiled at her and kissed her on the cheek.

"Yeah." She said, "Thanks"


	15. Chapter 15

Deidara had put his henge back on and left her a street over from the inn under a sakura tree. It was late afternoon, it was getting colder. The wind blew, sakura petals fell around her. Her heart hurt. She didn't want to do this.

Itachi, she missed him so much. Deidara wasn't a monster like she thought he would be. She felt guilty, terrible, she felt like she was the monster. "Itachi, where are you?" She said in a small whisper carried away on the wind.

She closed her eyes and imagined her whisper finding him, falling over his lips like so many kisses she was never able to give him.

When she opened her eyes, she looked up into the sakura tree and saw a crow. It wasn't Itachi, it was a different crow but it hopped down and landed on her arm. There was a note in its beak and she took it with a pet on his head as thanks.

It read: I know what you did in that village, control it, it will break you. I saw you with him, I know it is your mission. The village will not be safe tonight, you need to leave. The necklace is a promise. Did you not promise me?

She took a penknife from her pocket in her hoodie and cut her thumb, with the blade she wrote on the back of his note in her blood, having to dip the blade to her thumb several times: I promise you.

The crow took her response and flew away.

"What did you promise him?" Kakashi spoke from beside her.

-How the hell did he, dangerous, he is so very dangerous-

"Nothing" She didn't look at him.

"What necklace?" He reached for her hoodie, grabbed it and unzipped it staring at her neck. "I see."

"What did you do with Deidara?" he asked her, he wasn't looking at her.

"Do?" he had said do, not what info did you get from him. "I let him kiss me," She said.

"Did you kiss him back" He wasn't asking, he was demanding.

"Yes, it was my mission." She said and made to leave.

Kakashi grabbed her shoulder and spun her looking into her eyes, he nodded once and let her leave. He stood there looking in the direction the crow had flown.

Sasuke was in their room when she opened the door and went to bed to lay down. He rose from the chair by the window and sat on the bed next to her.

"How did it go?" He asked her looking her over.

"He admitted that he was a missing-nin and that he had friends that were also missing-nin and that they were not the ones that massacred that village but were getting blamed for it. He also gave me this," she dropped the smaller of the two birds into his hand," don't get any blood on it. It is how you call him, you rub blood on it and he comes to where you are. He gave it to me."

"Why would he do that?" Sasuke looked angry.

"Because he wanted to help me, he is actually a very decent person. It is confusing to me. Aren't they all supposed to be monsters?" She looked at him.

Sasuke looked like he had just swallowed glass.

"Are you insane?" He choked out, "You think he is a decent guy? He is part of the Akatsuki! With my clan killing brother!"

"Why did your brother kill your clan, Sasuke, you never told us if you knew." She asked him

"To test his skill level." Sasuke sat back on the bed, leaning back against the headboard.

"That doesn't make sense, is that what they told you?"

"He told me that himself!" Sasuke was mad now, livid. "What does this have to do with fucking Deidara." He tossed the little bird onto the bed beside her.

"Neither of them fit the description of heartless, ruthless cold killers. I just wondered if you knew why Itachi did it, maybe he had a good reason." She was thinking out loud

"Do you hear yourself? You sound insane." He got up and slammed the door behind him.

"Maybe I am" She closed her eyes, she just wanted to rest for a minute.

When she woke it was dark outside the window, she looked at the clock on the nightstand. 8 PM. Rolling over and out of the bed, she went to the bathroom and then downstairs to find Sasuke.

Before Sakura knew where she was or what she was doing she found herself back at the Sakura tree Deidara had left her at earlier that day. She sat down on the ground and watched the breeze blow the petals off of the tree.

"Sakura." It was Kakashi.

"Did something happen between you and Deidara today?," He asked.

"What do you mean" She was hesitant.

"I told you, we kissed. That's it, and talked about his art.' She said.

"He will be back, he doesn't seem the type to just walk away." Kakashi left her sitting under the tree.

What the hell was that supposed to mean? She got up and stood under the tree looking up at the sky through its branches.

"The sky is so beautiful when seen through the branches of a Sakura tree." She murmured to herself.

"Not as beautiful as you," Deidara said from behind her.

She spun around to face him startled. He frowned.

"You, you surprised me Deidara" She tried to cover her quick reaction.

-Fucking up all over the place tonight aren't you-

"I didn't mean to yeah, an old habit I guess," He grinned at her, "You okay?"

"I'm okay." She smiled, he really was a nice guy. She had to end this. "I don't think I should see you anymore Deidara."

She reaches into her pocket and handed him back the smaller bird sculpture.

He took it and looked at it for a moment, "It was a gift yeah" He tried to hand it back to her.

"I want to keep the others, they, I love them. It isn't appropriate for me to have that one though, or to have, kissed you...so much earlier today. I'm sorry." She stepped back from him as he stepped toward her. "Deidara, I don't know what I'm feeling. I don't want to hurt you. I can tell you are already starting to have feelings for me."

"Well, a little yeah. We just met though. I wanted to get to know you more hey." He stepped closer to her.

"I don't want to hurt you." She wanted to step away then, to leave but she hesitated and that was all he needed.

Deidara closed the distance between them and kissed her gently, putting his arms around her, he tried to deepen the kiss but she stopped him with two small fists clenched together and pushed him gently away.

"Please, I really don't want to hurt you. I think you are sweet and really a decent person. I like you, I am not going to hurt you like this. I'm not going to use you.' She spoke firmly.

"It was just a kiss yeah." He tried to play it off as meaningless but she could tell...he looked sad.

"I understand." He said after a few minutes of then standing there silently. "Hug?" he grinned.

"Just a hug." She smiled

He hugged her quick with both arms, tight and then left.

Sasuke was in their room when she opened the door sitting in a chair by the window again.

"I'm sorry." They both blurted out at the same time, then laughed.

"Did you guys bring me back any food?" She asked him as she took her hoodie off and laid it on the end of the bed.

"I left soon after you but you could ask Kakashi, we had ordered already so I am sure they made him buy it," Sasuke said as he picked his book up again.

She went across the hall to see if Kakashi was back from wherever he went after he had left her at the sakura tree.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

No answer. Sakura tried the door it was unlocked, so she opened it and stood in the doorway. To be safe she flew through the hand signs to take down the protective seals and stepped inside.

"Kakashi?" The lights were off and she couldn't hear anything so she turned the lights on and looked around. There were papers scattered on his bed but no Kakashi. The bathroom door was open so she went to check, no Kakashi.

Since she didn't find him she turned to leave walking across the room to the door when she saw a picture of Itachi sticking out of a folder on his bed. She picked the folder up and started looking though it. It was an Anbu classified folder, one she hadn't seen before. It looked old. There were handwritten notes on the papers and on some of the pictures.

One of the notes read: Visits here in the summer sometimes.

Another read: New contact Haruno Sakura age 10

What the hell, he knew all along? These handwritten notes, they are Kakashi's handwriting?

Notes on another picture...a picture of the village they were currently in: Spotted regularly at a Dango shop here along with other well known missing-nin, possibly close to Akatsuki hideout.

Kakashi knew more than he let them believe. Kakashi wasn't here just for the Akatsuki, this screamed personal! What should she do, he was obviously after Itachi and he hadn't told her because he thought her and Itachi were too close?

Putting the file back just as he had left it she was about to go again when she saw her name on a partially unrolled scroll along with Itachi's.

She picked it up as if it might explode in her hands and read:

/

Haruno should be used to find Uchiha Itachi at any cost. He is too big of a threat. You disappoint me Hatake. I thought you were a better shinobi, I was wrong. Complete the mission. Bring me back Uchiha Itachi's corpse with his eyes, if the Hokage's apprentice dies we will call it an accident. We have a solid tip Uchiha Itachi will be at the mountain pass by the village at 10 pm November the 12th, you are to intercept him in his business and take him out.

Danzo

/

"Shit!" She dropped the scroll and flew out of the room sealing it as she ran down the stairs and to the forest that would lead to the mountain pass. She looked at the moon in the sky, was it almost ten pm? She thought it was more like 9:30ish. She had to make it in time.

She flew through the hand signs and teleported 2 miles then teleported 3 miles and touched down by the field right by the mountain pass that Kakashi and Itachi would clash. Itachi had tried to warn her, he told her to leave the village that it wouldn't be safe tonight, was this why?

Think think think she told herself. Itachi is here for something else, no idea who he is meeting, could be more Akatsuki members, could be personal, could be anyone! Kakashi knew the time and date, how? Who cares! He was here somewhere, had he noticed her?

If he had he hadn't come to her yet and surely he would if he had noticed her right? He would want to know why she was there and no doubt who's side she was on.

Sasuke, she had forgotten all about him. He would only make it harder to do what she needed to do, and what was that. She had no idea.

"What the hell are you doing here" Kakashi grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to a tree slamming her up against it.

"I went to your room looking for leftovers from the restaurant and saw the reading material on your bed," She sneered

"Where does your loyalty lie Sakura?" cold eyes, his eyes were so cold.

She shivered, " With Konoha."

"Then why are you here" He pushed her hard pinning her to the tree, grinding his palm into her chest, it hurt.

"Itachi, " She gasped out.

"Go back to the inn now." He released her

"No, you're going to kill me anyway, use me to get to Itachi, I saw what Danzo wrote, he ordered you." She gave him cold eye for cold eye.

"Do you know who Danzo is?" He asked her

"No"

"You are talented, you have my blood rage but you are light years away from challenging me, go now." He bit out at her so harshly she almost ran.

But she didn't run," No"

-I'm not fucking going anywhere, you don't fucking scare me you little scarecrow bitch! I will piss on your corpse after I rip you limb from limb and beat you with the bloody ends!-

He raised his hand and she stiffened her spine, but then his head turned and he was gone.

A second later she heard what he had. Crows. A cawing murder of crows and he ran after them at full speed in their shadow.


	16. Chapter 16

Lightning had struck her before she could touch her feet to the ground. Instead of landing gracefully, soundlessly she crashed loudly and painfully.

-I have never hated anyone more than I hate that fucking soulless dog right at this very fucking second-

He was on her before she could take a breath before she could stand before she could open her eyes, she felt his surge of hatred and blood lust. Before the thought of "him," he was there ripping at her throat.

An explosion rent the air around them. He flew through the air and landed gracefully on his feet a few trees away.

"Sakura?" Deidara spoke her name in confusion, "What are you doing here?"

-What the hell, how?-

"I'm suppressing my chakra." She gasped out, "How did you know...it was ...me?"

"Itachi was calling your name." He helped her stand up.

She hadn't been able to hear through the ringing in her head.

"Itachi, where is he?" She choked out, her throat, had he cut her? She lifted a glowing green hand to her throat and eased her pain, not cut, almost crushed.

"Here," Itachi spoke from behind them.

-Why do men always want to take you from behind-

"I told you to leave the village why are you here?" Itachi's voice was cold, so unlike what she was used to.

"Take it easy yeah," Deidara stood in front of her. " She almost died because of that asshole over there." He points to Kakashi who is sitting on a swinging tree branch watching them.

"Deidara, why don't you hate me right now, I deceived you," Sakura asked

"I knew what was going on the whole time yeah!" He smiled at her

"What?" she was shocked

"You don't hide your signature as well as you think hey, and besides Leader Sama has been having us take turns following you." He smiled a real smile again.

"You're not a bad person either." He grinned

-Wolves, crows and now…..fucking smartass artists.-

"He's coming." Itachi flew into the air and met Kakashi over the trees, the sky exploded in electricity and fire. When they broke apart they had landed back on the ground, away from one another, facing each other.

"Sakura!" Kakashi called, "where does your loyalty lie? "

"Konoha Asshole!" she calls back

"Then come, why are you there with the enemy?" His eye blazed red

"Sakura, go," Itachi says to her

"What? No, she comes with us yeah, he just tried to kill her?" Deidara protested.

"It isn't time yet,besides if he wanted her dead, she would be dead." Itachi tells him calmly like he is telling him he had eggs for breakfast.

"But," Deidara starts to protest.

"I said NO. She doesn't belong to you." Itachi's word is final and Deidara gives Sakura an apologetic smile.

"Sakura, you have 10 seconds, then I attack" Kakashi calls " With the intent to kill."

"Itachi." she starts to say

"No. Don't say another word. Go to him, back to them...for now" He lifts his hand and pokes her in the forehead with two fingers. Again pictures flash through her head, Them eating Dango, them in their cabin, him watching her sleep, a rose, him telling her he loves her as he takes off his necklace. "Go, please."

Kakashi is running, she runs full force toward him, arms out in front of her, he changes his stance, one arm out, one hand on his pack, he jumps and catches her midway in the air and they drop to the ground her in his arms, kunai in his hand pointed at Itachi.

"Stalemate for now," Kakashi says, half statement, half question.

"Hn.' Itachi nods and then is gone.

"Sakura?" Deidara looks to where Kakashi is holding her still crouched on the ground.

"It's okay Deidara, go, thank you, but go." She tries to smile at him but she can't get it out, she is crying and she doesn't know why. Itachi had left her, again.

Deidara flies away on a bird-like sculpture looking back at her till she can't see him anymore.

Kakashi looks down at her, she looks at him and starts to try to get down, he grips her painfully to his chest and teleports them to the side of the lake.

"What the fuck were you thinking following me!" He grips her by her arm after he sets her down, he is hurting her but he doesn't care, she rips her arm from his grasp and slaps him hard across the face as quickly as the lightning building up in his hand.

"Of course I would follow you, you fucking asshole! " She slams her foot into the ground and the earth ripples and shakes for meters around her as he jumps in the air, spinning and throwing paper bombs at her

-A diversion-

She punches the ground making a crater and punches the ground again creating a smaller crater in a crater and ducks, his foot breezes inches from her face.

Flat to the ground now she rolls to the left as he comes from the right grabbing her leg, throwing her and slamming her into the ground with a kick to the side.

Fuck that hurt, she groans to herself as she sends chakra to her feet and leaps out of her hole making the hand signs "Earth Style, Earth Rampart!" She jumps again on top of her raising mountain searching for him everywhere.

From behind he grabs both her arms pulls her back to him twists and slams her into the ground again, laying on top of her.

-What is up with all the grappling! Use a freaking Jutsu!-

"Enough." Kakashi breaths ragged into her ear laying on top of her.

"You started it" She is out of breath too and it comes out as a gasp.

"You slapped me" He counters

"You were breaking my arm in your grip!" She yells in his ear.

He flinches back.

Blood is dripping down the side of his face, off his masked chin onto her cheeks. His eyes are still wild but their rage is fading.

"Let me up." She tries to push him off

-Is he made of cement ?-

"No." He says and flattens himself on her

-Are you kidding me?-

She wiggles underneath him trying to get out.

"Stop," He says

"No! I want to get up!" She yells at him again but not in his ear.

"Stop moving Sakura." He groans

She thrashes under him, she wants up and she wants up now!

"Please." He whines in her ear.

She immediately stills her thrashing, oh.

-Way to go, idiot, blood lust hello? Makes men horny duh-

"I want to get up" She doesn't move but she really does want to get up.

His breath is hot on her throat and he nuzzles her neck.

"Kakashi, get off of me or I'm going to fucking kill you and so help me it will be bloody and very painful." She warns.

"You...aren't...strong...enough...Sakura." and he grinds his body into hers.

"Get off of her Kakashi." The sounds of a katana leaving its sheath whispers through the air.

"Sasuke, how nice of you to join us." Kakashi slowly, deliberately, slides his body off of Sakura.

Sasuke reaches a hand down to her, she takes it and stands up, swaying only slightly. Sasuke moves to her, to support her but she shakes her head.

"What is going on? Both of you left then I feel insane amounts of chakra flooding and sparking the skies and find you two trying to kill one another." Sasuke looks from Kakashi to Sakura.

"Sasuke, if I wanted to kill Sakura, she would be dead." He said without arrogance.

"We saw Itachi and Deidara, Sasuke, and he attacked me!" She looked to Kakashi glaring.

"You attacked Sakura?" Sasuke immediately stood in front of her to protect her from Kakashi.

Kakashi barked out a cruel laugh. "If it came to it, she would be protecting you pup, now step aside." Kakashi took the few steps he needs to get to Sakura's side.

"I wasn't attacking you, I was preventing you from leaving." He said looming over her.

"You teleported to my side but when you saw Itachi you teleported to his side." He looked at her, his Sharingan was still uncovered, "I thought you were leaving with him." Cold eyes, one red, one slate, one fire, one ice.

"I wasn't going to leave with him. I don't even know where he goes. How many times do I have to say it! I knew him as a crow! Only recently have I known he was a man!" She lashed out and kicked a tree, it splintered and flew breaking through 5 more trees before it finally fell dead to the ground in its own bed of splintered wood.

"I was worried." Was all Kakashi said

"Where is Itachi?" Sasuke had been scanning the area with his Sharingan.

"Gone," Kakashi said.

"With Deidara, who knew who I was! Which meant he knew who you were, all of us!" She yelled because she was angry she had been fooled, so had Sasuke.

-Not hard to fool him though is it-

Kakashi had been fooled too.

-Okay the artist is good I'll give him that-

"Where did they go?" Sasuke asked unusually calm

"To their base? We don't know, unless, you know and you're not telling us?" She raised her brow to Kakashi.

"I don't know." He said truthfully.

"I need a bath can we go back now?" Sakura asked.

"Sakura, where does your loyalty lie?" Kakashi asked her again.

-I don't know-

"Konoha, always Kakashi." She was tired of this.

"That is not the question anymore." His hand rose to her cheek.

-What are you doing Wolf?-

"What?' Sasuke took Sakura's hand and drew her back, away from Kakashi's hand.

"We should go," Sasuke said looking at them looking at one another.

"Answer me." Kakashi was talking only for Sakura, it was clear.

"I don't know." And for the first time in a very very long time, she burst into uncontrollable, hot, huge, emotionally strained tears of loneliness, fear, and hate. Years of control broke inside of her. She started backing away from them then.

Kakashi saw the change in her eyes and darted forward grabbing her, to stop her, help her.

"Kakashi let her go!' Sasuke hadn't understood, he thought the man was attacking her again.

"Stay out of this! You do not belong! " Kakashi snarled at him like the wolf he so clearly is.

Sakura thrashed in his arms, snarling biting, clawing at him to let her go.

-Kill, Kill, Let me out, LET ME OUT!-

Chakra roared from her temple, her seal on her forehead breaking, she glowed. A burst of manic laughter filled the air and she threw Kakashi off of her. He flew through the air slamming into trees, rocks, and earth. Turning she raged forward toward Sasuke who was not prepared and she caught him in the arm that he foolishly brought up to defend himself with, she smashed through it cracking it, breaking it, and then he was gone from her sight...crows erupted from everywhere, flying at her pecking at her ripping her hair, her clothes.

"Itachi! Itachi! ITACHI!"

She threw her head back screaming till her throat bled and then she screamed some more, slamming her fists into the ground sending a shockwave through the earth.

It felt like she was dying, her soul was ripping, she wanted to die. Tears flooded down her cheeks in torrents, and then he was there red eyes, and then she was gone.

Itachi.

Everything was black. She couldn't see anything. He touched her face gently, wordlessly. She turned to his touch and clung to the feeling of his hand on her face memorizing it because she knew she was dying and it would be the last time, for surely she wasn't going to heaven, only hell waited for her.

"Open your eyes Sakura." He whispered.

She did. "Itachi." She breathed his name, life's breath.

"We're in our place Sakura, yours and mine, our cabin."

She sat up and looked around. She was in their bed, he was sitting by her in a chair from their table. The fire was going in their fireplace and the door to their cabin was closed to the cold. Tea was waiting for them on the table. They were home.

"Genjutsu." She whispered.

"Yes Sakura, I had to find a way to calm you." he leaned forward and kissed her gently.

"Itachi, why? Why didn't you want me to go with you?" She was crying again, she hated crying, it made her feel weak.

"It isn't the right time Sakura, I have to make sure you will be safe, things are not...ready yet." He kissed her hand and held it in his.

"Ready? What needs to be ready?" She asked him still upset he hadn't wanted her with him but he wasn't saying he never wanted her with him, only not right now.

"I am part of the Akatsuki as I am sure you have figured out if Hatake hasn't already told you."

She nodded.

"Not everyone is like Deidara and I. Some are monsters that walk in the form of men. There are others like Deidara that were forcibly recruited that do not wish to be there but have found peace, but not many. It is a small group and...I do not trust them." She could see the sadness in his eyes.

"I will wait then, a blood promise remember?" She kissed his hand that was holding hers and smiled at him.

"A blood promise." He leaned farther over and kissed her deeply, running his fingers through her hair with one hand, holding her hand with the other, his lips felt like molten lava on her own, his breath was steam and vapor.

"Itachi, I want you to, I want to be with you, I, I love you." She whispered it like she didn't believe it.

"I loved you from the first day I saw you crying by the bench when you were 6 and I was 10." She gasped at his words, was it true or was it a lie, was he real or was he trying to calm her?

"I'm going to release you now. You will be in pain most likely from your.. Rant. Kakashi and Sasuke are there still. They are worried." He kissed her one last time.

"It has been a moment in reality even though it has been 20 mins here. I will not stay when I release you but know that I love you, and I can't now, but one day I will come home to you, and never leave you again, until I die, hopefully at a very very old age next to you in bed with our children grown." Another kiss and he released his genjutsu.

Air filled her lungs, painful, lonely air. He was gone. No more tears. He was gone but he would return. Pain, her body ached so much pain. Her seal.

-You released it in a fit of uncontrolled selfish rage you fucking moron, what a fucking waste!-

Oh, she had forgotten.

"Sakura." Sasuke was patting her face.

Were her eyes still closed? Yes, oh, well then. She still didn't open them. She wasn't ready for reality yet. One day, he had said one day...what if that day never came, did he expect her to wait forever?

Strong arms lifted her up, peppermint and what was that other smell, oh, how could she forget, blood. Peppermint and blood.

"Let's go back to the inn Sasuke, I have our henge covered, make your own and let's get going." Kakashi didn't wait for him to answer he had already started running toward the inn.

We aren't teleporting she said to herself, oh, he must be low on chakra. Did I really try to kill him? Sasuke, his arm. I'm sorry she said to no one, eyes still shut to the world.

Wind so much wind. Like the cawing of crows, the howling of a wolf.

Will the heavens fall without you here, the wind blowing life into my lungs, how can I live without you by my side, Itachi, I am alone, surrounded by people, I only want you by my side. One day.

When, when Itachi, when can we go home, will I still feel the same when I wake up to an empty bed with only a rose to kiss and hold, only a rose to warm my bed...she fell limp in Kakashi's arms and he knew she was really asleep this time.


	17. Chapter 17

Where was she? It was warm and soft. Her throat hurt. Her head hurt. Her heart was torn. Itachi. Gone. Itachi. Alone, she was alone again. She rolled over pulling the warm softness over her naked body and fell asleep again.

Crackling. A fire. She opened her eyes. He was there by the fire sharpening kunai, white head bent over his task, focused, unyielding. She closed her eyes again, sleep hugging her body once more.

It was cold, she reached for the covers, they were gone. Where were they, she felt around some more, eyes still closed. A hand found hers pulled her naked body to them and wrapped their arms around her, warm, she was warm again. Eyes still closed, she sighed. Soft kisses across her forehead, comfort, it felt...nice. He pulled the blanket back up around them covering their naked bodies. She fell asleep again.

She opened her eyes. Her body ached, she was so tired. Her head, her head hurt. It was dark out. Was it night, or early morning. Had a day passed, or two. Where was she. A bed. The inn? Her room? A body, a man. Itachi? No, he had left her again.

"Sakura." His voice, it is gentle, so soft...different. Warmth enveloped her and eased her pain. A rose can't kiss you back she thought. Her head snapped up.

"Kakashi?" Dull green eyes met vibrant slate with flecks of silver. She sighed , her head dropped back onto his chest, defeated. You can't wrap yourself around a rose at night. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close against her naked body and fell back asleep.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Kakashi?" She woke up to yelling. Sasuke was yelling at Kakashi?

She opened her eyes. Sasuke was standing at the end of the bed yelling at her? No, oh. She looked up to find her wrapped in Kakashi's arms...naked. Oh, she thought, I remember now. It wasn't a dream then. She sighed and dropped her head.

"It doesn't matter Sasuke, I don't even care." She said and closed her eyes against the world.

"But Sakura, he is taking advantage of the situation, of you, are you going to let him do that? He doesn't care about you he just wants to get off!" Sasuke's face was red.

"Then let him, who cares. Itachi isn't here, he left me again." She hadn't opened her eyes when she had spoken but she did now and looked at him from under tear slicked lashes.

Sasuke opened and closed his mouth as if to say more but turned on his heel and left the room. He didn't even have the heart to slam the door.

She had given up. He could see the defeat in her eyes, her dull, lifeless eyes. Itachi was going to pay, he would pay for doing this, this was almost worse than killing her.

She was always so alive , so full of energy, and now, now she was...not. Sasuke clenched his fists and grit his teeth. He wished he would have found out sooner, he should have tried harder, tracked her better, trained better to protect her, had he learned nothing? What had he been doing this whole time, he was a failure again, he couldn't protect anyone he loved.

He slammed his fist into the wall cracking the wood and cutting his hand. He had failed , again. Itachi had hurt another person he loved while he stood by and did nothing. He felt so worthless, he was so ashamed.

"We didn't have sex Sakura, I wouldn't force myself on you." He told her as he held her.

There was that softness again. It sounded so strange coming out in the form of his voice.

"I know." She didn't look up at him.

"I told you I would wait. I will wait." He said into her hair and hugged her close.

"I don't care." She said.

"You don't care now, but you will, give it time." He said.

"I don't care, I don't care about anything." She couldn't even cry, her will had left her.

"I used to think that. I care about you." He told her.

"No you don't, you're just like him." She said evenly.

"I am not the one who keeps leaving you." He said.

"I suppose not." She admitted.

"Do you still love him?" He asked.

"I thought I did. I don't know what it means to love now. I don't care what it means, I don't want to feel. I don't want to talk." She did look at him now and he looked down at her.

"A rose will not make me feel alive again." She said to him

"Let me. Let me make you feel alive again, if only for a moment." His voice was gentle, soft and...safe. He was here, Itachi was not. She would have gone with him. Kakashi's eyes, they were no longer cold.

"What has changed?" She asked him.

"I stopped hiding." He said.

"From who?" She asked.

"From you Sakura, it has always been you." He bent his head down to her and kissed her gently on the lips, almost timidly, he drew back, looked at her face , then kissed her again deeper his hands running down her naked back, their bodies entwined, and she let him.

Morning came in the form of a glare, not the sun's but Sasuke's. He stood at the side of the bed till she opened her eyes and acknowledged him, which took a long time because she just lay there staring right through him.

"What do you want from me Sasuke?" She finally asked him.

"Why would you let him do that to you Sakura?" He asked her

"You're going to have to be more specific Sasuke, your question could be applied to almost anything." She sighed and resisted the urge to turn over and ignore him.

"Why did you let Kakashi hold you all night while you were naked.?" He asked more specifically.

"I didn't know I was naked till you came in yelling." She said. "And when I realized I was naked, I just didn't care."

"What about my brother?" He asked.

"What about him?" She asked him back, she had been tired of this conversation before it had even begun.

"You love him? Why sleep with someone else if you love my brother?" He demanded.

"I thought you didn't want me involved with your brother." She said.

"I don't but that doesn't mean I don't know you have serious feelings for him!" He said voice rising.

"Serious feelings. Sasuke, I don't know if I love him. I thought I had, he has abandoned me twice. I would have gone with him last night if he had asked me, but he told me to go, go back with you and Kakashi. I thought he was a crow, for years. When I found out he was a man, the affections I had for the man were confused with the affections I had for the crow. I don't know if I loved him." She was being honest.

"Do you love Kakashi?" He asked.

"No." She said

"Did you sleep with him?" He asked

"I slept, I don't know if he did. We didn't have sex, that is what you really want to know." She said.

"Do you love me?" He asked her very quietly.

"Not romantically, you are like a brother to me and always will be." She told him truthfully if bluntly.

He nodded once and left the room.

She watched him leave and then went to the bathroom to draw a bath. It was cold and goosebumps covered her naked skin as she waited for the bath to fill.

She didn't know what to feel, so she felt nothing.

Steam filled the room and she breathed it in trying to take deep calming breaths, her chest hurt. She lowered herself into the bath slowly, the water rising up over her skin hot and blissful.

-We could drown, we could drown and no one would know until it was too late. I hear it hurts a lot but our pain would be over, it would be the last time we felt pain and the pain would be nothing to what we feel now-

"I don't feel any pain now." she said to herself

-you do, you are suppressing it, you are ignoring it, it is cutting you up inside, you are bleeding to death, you are dying inside.-

"I don't care." she said to no one

-No, you do care and that is the problem. You care too much, you give too much, you are too alive.-

"Then I will snuff out the light, I will kill the kindness in my heart and I will be a walking dead, a soulless weapon who doesn't feel. I don't want to feel anymore." She said to the steam rising from her bath.

-So that's it, this is the end. It has finally come to this...Our humanity is lost? We have become what Itachi most feared? He tried to save us from becoming this!-

"He is not here." She said.

-And the copy nin is? Will you turn to him for comfort?-

"How can I turn to someone who is already dead to feel alive?" She asked the condensation sliding down the window.

-You are not dead yet-

"I wish I was dead." She said, "It doesn't matter, I don't care." She slipped under the water and tried to forget everything and anything.

He came to her again that night as she lay naked in the bed. His body warm and smooth, strong and safe, arms reassuringly wrapping themselves around her and pulling her to his own nakedness.

"Let me touch you." He ran a hand back and forth over her stomach.

She didn't move. She didn't reply.

"Let me kiss your perfect body." He kissed the back of her neck , slowly, running his tongue over the bottom of her ear.

She closed her eyes and lay there dead to the world.

"Let me make you forget." He pressed his hips against her ass, resting his hands over her ribs.

She had already forgotten. She had already stopped caring. He could do as he wished.

He ran his hands up her stomach to her breast cupping them gently as he kissed her neck and pressed his hardness against her ass and her lower back. He rubbed his palm slowly back and forth , her nipple hardening under his touch.

No sound came from her, no movement , no reaction as he continued to kiss her and touch her body. Pushing her leg forward with his knee he slid his hand from her breast to her hip and gripped it slightly, gently playing with the sensitive skin with his finger tips.

She still hadn't moved, made no form of protest verbal or physical, so he continued down over her hips slowly moving his hand back over her ass and down her inner thigh. He hesitated here, kissing her neck and shoulder, she still hadn't moved, slowly, painstakingly so he ran two fingers up her inner thigh and over her entrance.

She was warm and soft, so innocent. She did move then, a slight shudder ran through her frame and he stopped, did she want him to stop? No protest came so he rubbed his thumb over her clit, slowly, so slowly and gentle and she mewled for him.

Heat rushed to his groin and he growled into her hair trying to control himself. Gentle, he wanted to be gentle with her, he would show her the man he could be. He calmed his breathing, forcing the urge to rip and tear from his blood and closed his eyes to concentrate.

He held his breath as he ran his thumb over her clit again and slid a finger into her warm entrance, she was wet, so wet and it was for him. He grit his teeth to keep from biting her. He let out his breath slowly patiently so he didn't scare her. His finger slid farther into her wet and he found her innocence, evidence he was the first to touch her like this, the first allowed to be this close to her. He groaned and pressed into her back with his body. Out, his finger came out slowly and two more slid in just as slow.

She sucked in a breath, just one and held it, he could feel it against his chest as he held her, his fingers in her, his hardness pressed against her ass, careful, he had to be careful, he had to stay in control. His fingers came back out and his thumb rubbed her clit as he slid his fingers back in touching that spot, the barrier, the last obstacle of her innocence. She moved against him and he bit her neck, he couldn't help himself.

He drew back , took his fingers from her, kissed the bite mark, and pushed three fingers back into her. A small pant escaped her lips and her hand rose to grip his hair, he licked her neck and pressed his fingers harder into her , pressing up against the thin layer of skin keeping him in place inside of her.

"Sakura" He growled desperately into her ear, "Please." He wanted permission, he wanted to do this right. He wanted her to give herself to him freely, he didn't want to steal, he didn't want to take, to force her. He wanted something real, something that was his. It seemed like forever before she spoke.

"Kakashi." His name rolled off her tongue in the gentle whisper he coveted above all others, a voice she had only used when speaking Itachi's name, one that before today killed him everytime he heard it, but this time, now , here, it was his name from her lips, his name in that tone, and he came undone.

He moved on top of her covering her with his naked body, kissing her lips and running his tongue over hers. His body pressed hard over hers as he breathed her in, tasted her mouth, spread her legs with his knee, rubbing his cock against her asking for permission.

"I want you, let me please Sakura, I waited, Please." He was begging her.

She made to open her legs more but stopped.

He was holding his breath.

-DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE! DO NOT LET HIM TAKE YOU LIKE THIS!-

"I can't. I don't know what I want yet. I'm sorry." and she found that she could cry after all.

He let out his breath on a sigh and closed his eyes. Do not force her, get off of her, she needs more time, do not take, do not be a monster. He moved off of her in slow calculated movements, control, he was keeping himself under control.

"I will be here, when you are ready." He lay beside her.

"And if I am never ready?" She asked.

"I will wait." He rose, dressed and left the room, because if he stayed he would take her against her will and ruin everything.

"I will never come to your bed Kakashi, I can not give you that." and she cried, she didn't even know why but she cried, naked and very much alone.

His red eyes watched her, had been watching her, black feathers ruffled in the night.

"Sakura, I didn't want to leave you again. Wait for me, I will come for you. We promised." and he flew away.

Sasuke was reading in his usual chair when she woke the next morning just after dawn. He rose to come sit beside her on the bed with a good morning hug.

"You turned him down. I'm glad." Sasuke said when she sat all the way up, the sheet wrapped around her.

"I almost didn't, not because I wanted him, but because I didn't care, but when he...when he was about to I realized, I didn't know what I wanted. I knew that if I let him, I couldn't let anyone else." She laughed then and he was so happy to hear it.

"Does that make sense Sasuke?" She asked him

"Yes, you can't give your first time to more than one person." He laughed.

She hit him playfully.

"Sasuke, what do we do now? Our mission was to not engage and report on the Akatsuki members but they know we are here and have been following me for months, years Deidara said. What do we do and why are they watching me?" She asked for his opinion.

"The mission continues we just make adjustments to it is all." Kakashi said from the doorway.

"Good morning Sakura." Kakashi greeted her.

"Morning Kakashi." She said.

"Let's go over what we know. Itachi is nearby, Deidara is nearby, Sasori was near by four days ago and there may be other members that we haven't encountered yet. They have been watching Sakura since she was 12 years old give or take a year, Itachi and Deidara had chances to kill her but didn't." He concluded.

"Anything else?" He looked at them.

"Sakura has three presents from Deidara made of his clay, one calls him to her if she rubs her blood on it." Sasuke offered. Sakura gave him an angry look, she hadn't planned on telling Kakashi that.

"Oh? When were you going to tell me about that Sakura?" His eyes narrowed and bore into hers.

-Back to that are we? Fine with me asshole!-

"I wasn't hiding it," She glared at Sasuke" I hadn't had time to show or tell you. I showed Sasuke when I had gotten back from the tree but you had left to hunt Itachi and then, you know it all went to hell remember?" She gave him an equally angry look which he ignored.

"Show me now." He commanded.

She picked up her hoodie from the back of the chair that someone had laid it on and pulled out three small sculptures from it's pocket. One was of her in her henge, another a bird and the last a smaller bird.

"See?" She looked at them fondly and he narrowed his eyes further at her.

"Which is the summoning one?" He asked looking at them suspiciously.

"The smaller bird." She told him.

"Call him." He said.

"What? No. I will never use this, I tried to give it back to him but he wouldn't take it." She said and put it in her pocket.

Kakashi growled and told her again, "Summon him ."

She looked him in the eye, her fire returning, "I will not."

He smiled, then pulled a kunai and stepped, cut, stepped, " call him now."

Her finger was bleeding, " No." She walked over to the wall and wrote "no" on the wall in her blood turning to look him in the eye when she was done.

Kakashi barked with laughter, it wasn't a pleasant sound.

"It doesn't matter, he will come to you, you made an impression on him." He looked her over, sneering, like her was undressing her. "You have that effect on men it seems."

"What the fuck does that mean?" She snarled at him

"Everyone who meets you wants to fuck you is what it means, even Sasuke, though I doubt he would know what to do with you." Kakashi smiles at her.

"Screw you asshole" She spat out at him

"Seemed like you wanted to last night, with those little noises you were making when I touched you, remember Sakura, where I touched you and how you mewled for me, were wet for me?"

He hadn't meant to say it like that or say it at all. If he was honest with himself, he is the one who had lost control last night. He shouldn't have pushed her and now, he was doing this, he was ashamed.

"How dare you talk to Sakura like that!" Sasuke made to step to Kakashi but Sakura was there gripping his arm before he even twitched his hand.

"Don't, he is too fast for you, you would not win that fight." She said.

"And you would ?" He was angry but not at her, she understood.

"I have a better chance than you, but no, I need to train. In fact, if we are done here?" She looks at Kakashi and he nods. "Let's go train Sasuke and get some breakfast."


	18. Chapter 18

"Give up! Concede!" Sasuke tried to make her give in, Sakura was on her stomach face down under him, his kunai point to the back of her neck, he had obviously won.

"Hey Sasuke", She sang out from underneath him.

"Uh what?, " he asked stupidly.

She pushed up with her forearms from the ground with a chakra infusion to her hands , bent outward from the ground lifting him off her back and kicking him in the head, leg backward across her back.

He fell off to the side of her, she picked up his kunai and pegged it through his hand, pinning him to the ground.

"Conceed." She told him.

"I concede! Why did you pin my hand to the ground! You're brutal and that was unnecessary!" He whined.

"Stop thinking you are better than me. I have been hiding my skill for years, decades remember?" You haven't seen a third of what I can do. "Besides, you big fat baby, I can heeeeeal you idiot."

"Whatever." he said like a baby.

"I'm hungry, let's get some food." She said and started walking back toward the inn

"Okay." He pulled the kunai out of his hand and followed her.

When they got back to the inn they were heading up the steps to their room when Sasuke was called back by the Innkeeper wanting a word with him.

"Meet you upstairs" He said to her and walked back down the stairs to the Innkeeper who was waiting for him at the bottom.

When she opened the door to their room she saw Kakashi sitting on their bed holding a rose.

"What are you doing?" She asked looking at the rose.

"I'm sitting on our bed holding a rose." He told her.

-Games again hum, never gets old right?-

"It is not our bed, it is Sasuke's bed and mine remember, and that rose is for me." She went to grab the rose from him but he held it away from her.

"Our bed Sakura, or have you forgotten last night already?" He ran the rose under his masked nose.

"I have not, I learn from my mistakes." She retorted reaching for the rose again. Again he held it away from her.

"Keep it, I don't care." She walked to the bathroom and shut the door. Turned on the shower and got in.

After her shower she stood in the bathroom towel drying her hair thinking about what she wanted for lunch when she heard Sasuke come into the room.

"Kakashi, where did that come from?" She heard Sasuke ask Kakashi about the rose.

"Your brother, for Sakura of course." Kakashi told him.

"Give it to me." Sasuke could be heard through the bathroom door.

"Sakura seems to really want it this time I am not sure it is a good idea to give it to you." Kakashi says.

Sakura opens the bathroom door, grabs some clothes , holding her towel to her body says to both of them, "Get out and leave my flower where Itachi left it."

Kakashi sets the rose on the pillow and walks out followed by Sasuke.

"This is all your fault." Sasuke says as they walk out of her room into the next room.

She sighs and falls back onto her bed.

"Itachi." She holds the rose to her nose inhaling. Rose and campfire ...and there it is Dango.

Once dressed she goes downstairs for some food. The little lunch bar is packed so she orders some tempura and dango and takes a walk to the river to eat her lunch in some much needed peace and quiet.

She chose a part of the river where it bends into a small island before stretching back out into the main branch. Pulling a blanket out of a storage scroll she lays it out then sits down to enjoy her food. The tempura is crisp and delicious.

Before starting in on her dango she reaches into her pouch and pulls out the book of poetry that Itachi gave her many years ago, a well thumbed through copy by now that has accompanied her on many missions.

Laying down on her side, book in one hand a stick of dango in the other she begins to read. A few pages in she hears a tapping noise. It isn't threatening but it is out of place by a river surrounded by forest. It doesn't sound like a woodpecker and she can't locate a chakra signatures so after a while she goes back to reading.

The tapping continues, changing every now and then , stopping sometimes , then starting back up again. It is some time before she notices it has stopped altogether and she sits up and looks around. Still nothing. Putting her book away she lays on her back watching the clouds and enjoying the oddly sunny, slightly crisp moment by herself when she sees something.

Something is floating down from the sky toward her. She jumps to her feet, blade in hand and as it comes closer she can see it is, it's a , a piece of paper? A paper bomb? No, too big. A really big paper bomb?

"Don't be stupid" she laughs at herself.

She reaches out to catch it as it floats sideways to her and it's, her. It is a picture of her laying down on the blanket reading. Pink hair tucked behind one ear, two strands falling forward, the rest flowing down the side of her head over her shoulder, just a hint of green in the profile of her eye, reading intently. He posture captured in exact likeness and the sparkling river with its clear, white and grey blue hues tumble behind her.

"This is absolutely incredible." She whispers.

"I know yeah!." Deidara pops up behind her grinning.

"Deidara!." She gasps "Hey!" She is actually really happy to see him. She rather likes the enthusiastic artist.

"Sakura, I was hoping to see you again soon. You ok?" He asks her seriously.

"I'm ok now. I admit I was not okay yesterday or this morning even." She smiles a real smile at him

"I love this drawing, you are amazing!" She holds the picture up, "I love it, can I have it?"

"Of course, I drew it for you yeah!" He grins at her.

"It's really good to see you. Deidara I am really sorry about lying to you but , you knew who I was from the tea house even?" She was curious.

"We knew you were coming to the village for recon on the Akatsuki yeah." He can't stop grinning at her.

"How?" She asked him

"Can't say that yeah ." He laughs at her.

"I guess not, " She laughs at herself.

"But isn't this weird for you, I mean we are enemies aren't we?" She asks him

"The Akatsuki are different yeah, we don't belong to a village so, we don't have to follow those sort of rules. It is only a problem if it puts our goals in jeopardy hey." He says and twirls a piece of yellowing grass in his fingers.

"I saw you sparring with the Uchiha brat earlier, you did really well hey." He smiled at her, his eyes sparkled ...and he was inching toward her on the blanket.

"Thanks, you know Sasuke is a decent guy, he is just crabby sometimes." She defends Sasuke

"Still, I bet you're glad you aren't really married to him yeah?" He grins at her and tugs on a lock of her hair

"True, I don't think I would be happy married to Sasuke, not my type." She pulls her hair back and swings it over her other shoulder away from him.

Deidara watches her do this and frowns slightly.

"But yeah, I'm definitely not your enemy. You like the drawing yeah, can I have a kiss hum?" He is grinning again like a smirking cat.

"I'm not going to kiss you every time you make me something." She laughs at him

"Aww come on yeah I'll make you another sculpture." He teases her.

"I meant it when I said I didn't want to hurt you , the other night under the sakura tree." She looked at him.

He straightened up a little, he could be serious when he needed to be. "I know. I knew what you meant. I'm pretty smart hey, even if I don't always look at it. I can read between the lines" He smiled at her.

"I could tell it was bothering you, the whole situation you were in. That's why I told you that I didn't think you were a bad person either, I knew you didn't want to hurt me and it was bothering you, a lot."

He took her hand and squeezed it, "It's ok. It was a mission yeah, we all have those."

"I meant what I said, You really are a decent guy. " She was glad he didn't hold it against her.

"I might be out of line but you don't seem like you belong with that team, they seem too uptight for you hey." He is watching her.

"I have been with them since I was 12, we are like family." She says

"Didn't seem like family with that crazy ass Copy nin trying to cut you with his lightening yeah, he doesn't trust you either, keeps asking you who you are loyal to ." Deidara points out.

"It's complicated." She says

"What isn't?" he laughs. "Look it isn't my business , but they don't seem like they know you very well, Teammate since you were 12 yeah?"

"He's just...well, a little." She was trying to think of something nice to say but Deidara beat her to it.

"Self centered?" He said.

"Well, maybe a little." She laughed.

"Like I said, none of my business but you just don't seem like you belong with them." He tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear again and kept his hand on her cheek smiling at her.

She looked down and pulled away a little putting some distance between them

"You said something about taking me with you two and Itachi said no, it wasn't time. What was that about?" She asked him

"Oh uh, well we have been watching you for a while a few years now I think and Leader Sama wants a good healer and you're it. We didn't want to approach you yet though, Itachi says you aren't ready to join us yeah." He says

"Not ready like, not good enough yet?" She asks him.

"I don't think that's it but I never know what that guy is thinking, so quiet and creepy yeah. He says you aren't ready though and Leader Sama trusts him, so it is up to him." He cocks his head at her.

"We aren't what you thought huh? You're a ninja, you kill on missions, so do we, but we don't kill because someone told us to and it is the wrong thing to do but we have to do it anyway. We choose our missions, choose our clients and do a lot of good yeah." He says proudly.

"We saved a small village from a group of bandits, killed them all, just like you did the other week yeah. I saw you , you know, you were beautiful." He looked at her with a funny look in his eyes like wonder.

"Beautiful? I was a monster covered in blood." She said quietly

"No, " He lifted her chin up and held her eyes, " you were beautiful vengeance, retribution for those who were too weak to take it for themselves. Everyone of those nin and bandits were terrible people, they tortured those villagers yeah, and you killed them all." He was serious.

"I never thought of it like that I guess so." She kinda smiled.

"Are you kidding? It was amazing! Blood everywhere, " he waved his arms around as if flinging blood artistically on the grass, " You flew about ending their reign of terror on those civilians forever!' He almost ended in a sitting twirl. She laughed out loud.

"I guess, that sounds better than cold hearted killer." She mused.

"Is that how you see it huh?" He asked her

"Yes, I am a monster, cruel, cold blooded because it takes me over, I get, I go insane? I guess is the best way to describe it. It's like it isn't me." She says not looking at him but looking over the water.

She looks down at the picture he drew of her and she smiles, he smiles at her smiling. "This is me." She holds the picture up.

"Why can't you be both?" He is serious.

"How can I be, the evil will take over, the blood lust will eventually take over and I will lose control, I can't be both." She shakes her head. It is impossible he doesn't understand.

"Sure you can, just figure out how to control it, like by doing good, like that village yeah? Use it to help those who can't help themselves. Be a weapon of peace yeah. Like me, like Itachi." He grins at her again.

"Weapon of peace?" That sounds a lot better than insane, crazed killer.

"I would really like that, but I can't. I'm a kunoichi of Konoha, I can't just go around killing bandits or taking down rogue nin on my own, without permission." She laughed at the thought.

-Why the fuck not?-

"Then leave Konoha and come join us and do it." He kisses her cheek. "You already know Itachi and I and well, you met Sasori."

"Leave Konoha?" She says in disbelief.

"Itachi was going to recruit you eventually so why not just come on your own now yeah!" He is getting excited.

"You can share my room yeah." He winks at her.

"I can't just up and leave Konoha, it is all I have ever known, it is my home." She smiles at him sadly.

"What happens if your home blows up, or burns down?" He asked her

"Blows up?" She laughed.

"My last house blew up, but it was kinda my fault...anyway, yeah what if hey?" He asks again.

"Well , I don't know if I would have to get a new house?" She said quirking her eyebrow at him wondering where this was going.

"What if your house wasn't the only one? What if the whole village got blown up yeah?" He said.

"I would have to move I guess?" She said confused.

"Yeah, right!" he said as if that explained everything.

"Deidara? Did you blow up your village before you left?" She asked

"That's besides the point yeah, we are talking about you!" He grins at her

"Deidara!, you didn't did you?" She is smiling at him.

"Only a little." he shrugs it off, "anyway, just pretend you don't have a village and come join us." he snickers

She laughs at his absurd reasoning, "That is silly Deidara, I am not going to do that, besides won't Itachi get mad if I come now, he said it wasn't time yet." She pointed out.

"He is just over cautious yeah, you'll be fine, it will be great. I'll make you all sorts of things!" He is warming up to the idea fast.

'Besides, " he says "now that you know, and I know, we don't have to pretend now yeah, it is easier." He hugs her.

"Sakura, I kinda like you yeah, I meant it when I said I wanted to get to know you better. I know only a little about you so far and you're amazing yeah. I want to know more." He was so singularly sincere and open it hurt.

"Uh Deidara, I...I am really flattered you are so honest. I'm not used to that I guess. I like talking with you a lot but, but I, there is someone and I am not sure where we are, if we are something, or if I'm confused I guess. It is uncertain, his actions are confusing and contradictory sometimes." She grimaces at him. "I'm sorry, but I didn't want to lie to you."

"I appreciate it really hey. Thanks uh, but so, is it that Sasuke guy?" he asks.

"Oh no, no he is like my brother, not him no." She laughs a little.

"He likes you though I can tell." He grins, "Please tell me it isn't the copy nin!"

"No, I am not interested in him romantically." She smiles, "It's just someone that comes and goes out of my life alot and never stays, but comes back, if it is a year, 6 months, a week, he just...one day he is here the next gone. It is confusing." She admits her frustration to him.

"Oh, that sounds rough hey. Does he know you feel this way?" He asked her.

"Well, he is a prodigy and a genius, I would think so, but he is also very quiet, doesn't talk a lot and is kinda a loner, so maybe not?" She frowns, " I haven't had a chance to talk to him about it , he was gone for a year and I just saw him again recently."

"Oh! So this is all just happening right now? That explains a lot. I would be confused too yeah, and then I kissed you, well you kissed me first yeah." He grins and teases her.

"Yeah," she smiles.

"It was a really good few kisses though right?" He winks at her

"They were really good, too good Deidara." She says giving him a stern look.

"I don't remember, wanna kiss me again to remind me yeah?" He leans forward and she playfully slaps him away.

"Not today " She smiles at him.

"Thanks Deidara, you really cheered me up. I was in a bad place yesterday, I really needed this. You're the best" She hugged him hard.

"I'm glad I could help yeah, I should go though, someone is looking for you." He grinned, kissed her cheek and jumped on a bird he pulled out of his sleeve and flew away.

She looked at the drawing he had done for her one more time before putting it in her bag , opened her book again and read while she waited for whoever was looking for her to find her.

No, the two Akatsuki members she had met and spoken to were nothing like she had thought, even Sasori was not what she had pictured from his Bingo book entry. Were they really the bad guys? She thought of what Deidara had said, shinobi can be a weapon for peace.

Is that what you were Itachi? She could understand that, she could see him as such, not the clan killing psycho people thought was. There had never been a time she had felt she was in danger with him, never had feared him.

The trick to life is being able to really see what it is you're looking at. Take your own advice Sensei...

She felt better than she had felt in days. She was herself again but also something new. The blood hummed fine and clean in her veins now, no longer weighed down by doubt and self loathing, it felt great.

-Fuck yeah bitches, we're back!-

Sasuke sped toward her from the forest, "Sakura," He choked out we need to go back to the village, back to Konoha, Hokage, summoned us back, let's go, now." He grabbed her bag and her hand and they started running back to the inn.

"Sasuke what the hell is wrong, what happened? Where is Kakashi?" She was running beside him instead of running ahead so he could explain.

"Innkeeper," he huffed, he was out of breath " told me urgent message, I read it, Hokage said village was attacked. Akatsuki."

-What the fucking hell, noooo! Was it all a lie? -

"While we were out of the village. The Nine tails, The Aprentice of Senju Tsunade and Anbu Captain, The famous Copy Nin of Konoha and the last Heir of the Clan Uchiha of Konoha. They waited for us to leave to attack. I know other high level Anbu are out of the village right now too on missions" Damn it.

"Yeah, exactly" Sasuke said.

Kakashi met them in their room.

"I have everything in storage scrolls, let's move" and they did, racing back to Konoha at top speed.

Sakura fingered the little sculptures in her hoodie pocket as she ran, Deidara, he had said "what if your village got blown up and there was nothing left?" No! Did he know? Of course he knew! He is in the Akatsuki! Damn it Deidara!

Itachi, did you know too? Did you help them destroy the village? Damn you Itachi, Damn you Deidara, fuck you all to fucking hell!

-Is there no one we can trust anymore?-

Me, I can only trust myself from now on.


	19. Chapter 19

It was a waking nightmare, something out of his worst nightmare come to a reality. Their village was gone. The gates remained, a battered, broken remnant of its former glory, holding in place the wrecked aftermath of what looked like a flood or an almighty push from a center focal point.

Whole buildings were pushed and shoved as though they had been slid by some insanely powerful push across the ground to be shoved forcefully up against the walls of the village and crushed by its fellows in the flow.

The three stood horrified on a tree just outside of the village looking in on the destruction. What had happened here, what could possibly be this strong, to do this much damage. They were speechless.

"Let's go, we need to find someone , anyone who can tell us what happened and what the plan of action is, if there is one." Kakashi moved first, his movements jerky his eyes wide, he looked...desperate, sharingan uncovered.

"Is it, is it a genjutsu?" Sakura doubted but hoped.

"No." Kakashi told her "It is a nightmare come true."

"I didn't know the Akatsuki were this powerful." Sasuke too was in shock.

Sakura took in the full shock of the damage, she hadn't either. The real question though, was why? Why had they done this?

"KAKASHI, SASUKE, SAKURA!"

"Is that? Is that Naruto?" Sakura spoke surprised. She turned to where the voice had called them from. A bit of orange, yellow hair and blue eyes met hers.

"Naruto!, What happened here, you're back!" She called to him as they changed course and made their way to him.

Two of his shadow clones flew up beside her each holding a Rasengan in their hands, "Goodbye Sakura" and just like that, just as soon as she became aware, they went for her, she dodged, they came at her again, she fell, Kakashi was in front of her….

"CHIDORI!"

Poof poof.

"Naruto! What the fuck!" Sasuke lunged at three more clones that had come at her as she tried to stand, Kakashi touching down in front of her again.

Sasuke stepped right, poof.

Cut left then up, poof poof.

"No, not possible." Sakura was shaking her head, standing behindKakashi.

"You? You did this?" Sasuke waved his hand out from his body encompassing their village and all the destruction.

"Me." Grinned Naruto.

Her Mind screamed no, as her hands wove the signs.

"Earth Style, Earth Dragon Bomb!" She screamed and a mud dragon erupted from the ground at her feet.

"Water Style, Water Dragon Jutsu!" Kakashi sent his water dragon after her mud one and they collided with Naruto bringing him to his knees.

"Enough!, explain yourself Naruto, why would you attack the village, you betrayed us!" She was screaming at him, how could he do this to them.

-So, not Akatsuki after all hum?-

"Where is the Hokage, did you, did you kill... your father Naruto?" Kakashi asked, eyes narrowed, trying to hide his confusion. This turn of the unexpected had riled him more than he was letting on.

Sakura had only heard Kakashi hesitate one time, when they had been in bed together and he had been unsure….

That scared her more than anything, he wasn't sure what to do. She hadn't realized how much she relied on his confidence. He was an asshole, he pissed her off but he had been her solid, if volatile team captain, he had held her in constant suspicion, but it was constant, routine, he was always there and sure of his movements, his loyalties and now he was...unsure, and it scared the shit out of her.

"Not yet, but I will." Wind and chakra swirled around him, drawing to a point in his left hand

"I will kill you three first."

Naruto jumped into the air high above them, "Tailed Beast Rasengan!" He shot like a bullet down upon them at an incredible speed, they didn't even have time to blink.

Something hard hit her head and her vision was fading, she struggled to keep her eyes open. Sasuke's voice came to her from her left...or was it her right, she didn't know…

"So, he managed to do it out of his nine tailed fox form after all, knucklehead."

Grey, it was grey, she could feel Kakashi's chakra signature spluttering, was he dying? Sasuke, where was Sasuke, her hand twitched, there, she could feel him but his signature was faint. Was he dying? They needed her, she had to get up to check on them, to heal them. Her eyes closed, so heavy. Sasuke, his chakra, where was it, her eyes closed.

-Don't pass out now, get up, open your eyes, get up! They need you! Get up!-

"I'm trying ." She called, who had said that? "I'm trying." She said again and opened her eyes. Red eyes looked down at her green ones. "Itachi" and she faded out, vision gone black.

She was weightless, was she dead? No she was being carried. Sasuke, Kakashi, Konoha. Her eyes snapped open. Itachi.

"Sakura, I'm sorry. I didn't make it in time." Itachi hugged her close as he carried her.

"Did you know, did you help him do that, to Konoha" she asked him.

"No, never." Itachi said as they ran, wind in her ears, drops of blood dripping and falling from her face, her arms and her chest.

"Sasuke, where is Sasuke?" She asked.

"Dead." was the only word he said.

Tears, so many tears flooded her vision, she hesitated, "and, Kakashi?"

"We didn't find his body, we don't know for sure." Itachi was slowing down now.

"We?" She asked.

"Deidara is with us and a few others. You will see." he slowed and stopped setting her down gently. They were at their cabin.

"What are we doing here? We have to go back to the village, are there any survivors? We need to find Kakashi!" She was panicking.

"There is nothing more we can do but to prepare for the next battle, and there is something here I need so we may do that." He kissed her forehead and released the protective seals on their cabin, she noticed there were many more than usual and that it took him longer to unseal them. So, he had hidden something here, something important.

They opened the door. It was much the same as it had been a few months ago when she had visited it and cried for him before her mission that had brought him to her again.

He went to the corner of the small room and kneeled down making several complicated hand signs. A pit appeared and he drew something out of it, a medium sized wooden box, it's craftsman ship was exquisite she noticed and wondered what was in it.

Itachi brought it over to their table and bit his thumb dripping a few drops of blood onto the box lid. The blood was absorbed into the wood and the box clicked open.

"Blood Jutsu?" She stared at the box.

"Hn." He pulled out a small jar and a scroll setting them side by side on the table.

He turned to her then. "Sakura, listen to me, this next battle is going to be unlike anything you have ever seen. It is war. We are at war with the nine tails. I have made some adjustments to a previous plan of mine and I need you to listen and try to understand."

"I'm listening." She stood tall and looked him in the eye.

"I took Sasuke's eyes and want to give them to you." He said calmly.

-WHAT?-

What?" She said , she must not have heard him correctly.

"You are talented, a genius, with my little brother's eyes, you will be almost unstoppable. Even now, you can keep up with some of the quickest shinobi, your evasion is unparalleled even against my sharingan, think of what you can do with a sharingan of your own. Sasuke would have wanted you to live, he would have wanted you to have his eyes." Itachi said

"War? With the nine tails, with Naruto, but why, what happened to him to make him like this." She didn't want to acknowledge Itachi's desire to give her his brother's eyes.

"He tried to overcome the nine tails with the help of jiraiya, jiraiya is dead, Naruto killed him when the nine tails took him over. Naruto is no more, he is now the nine tailed fox in human form, instead of Naruto Uzumaki in nine tailed form." Itachi told her.

Jiryah was dead! Shit.

"Sakura, this is a lot to take in, I understand but we do not have a lot of time, we must meet the others at the base. I told them I would do this alone. They are placing a lot of trust in me, we need to continue." Itachi said but made no move to force her.

"So, Sasuke is really gone?" Tears slipped down her face as she looked up at Itachi.

"Yes." His face was blank, he was holding desperately onto his control.

"Please lay on the bed, this will take some time and you need to be relaxed and I need to concentrate." He motioned to their bed.

She shook the covers out and laid down on her back. Sasuke, oh Sasuke, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I couldn't have helped you. Kakashi, where are you?

"Try not to cry anymore, I need your eyes clear for the procedure, you are not an Uchiha, this will be...complicated, and I'm sorry, it will hurt. You must lay still." He brought out a glass container from under his cloak, Sasuke's eyes, glowing red.

"I understand. I'm ready." She lay her head back and waited.

Itachi leaned forward and kissed her mouth gently.

"I can't talk while I do this, I really need all of my concentration, but I will try to make it as painless as possible." Itachi squeezed her hand, and slim, aristocratic fingers held her eyelids open while the other reached in and ripped out her left eye.

Her whole body froze, pain exploded in her head, her untouched right eye rolled back into her head. She gripped the covers in her fists and willed herself to stay still and not to cry out.

"Don't pass out." he told her.

-Easier said than done-

Itachi put her old eye in a separate jar then took her right one and put it in another jar. Taking Sasuke's left eye, he put it with her left eye in its jar and then the right with her right eye. Unrolling the scroll he had taken out of the wooden box he did the complicated hand signs in a blur and released almost all of his chakra into his hands placing them on both jars.

His eyes were closed as he pushed his immense chakra into the jars, one hand on each jar, the eyes glowing green and then red, pushed and rolled together then merged into one eye.

Making the final hands signs he released his chakra flow.

He struggled to stay upright, it had taken more chakra than he anticipated, he blinked, his sharingan activated, he opened the jar with her new left eye and placed it back in her eye socket.

"Cold." She gasped.

"Sorry." he mumbled.

He took the right eye from the jar and placed it in her right eye socket.

"I need your help with the next part Sakura. You remember how the Uchiha eyes are connected to the main chakra veins to our brain right? I need you to attach and heal the connection of a normal eye and then that of an Uchiha eye to connect your new eyes. Go slowly." He told her sounding very tired.

She lifted her hands to her temples, her hands shook. He reached out and gently clasped his cold hands to her wrists to help steady her.

"I'm here." was all he had to say and her hands steadied themselves.

It was intricate work, she connected, healed and fused the muscles and fibers together of the chakra lines to the stem of her brain, the optic nerve and then, after what seemed like hours, it was done. She ran her hands over the front of her face to double check her work before she lowered them to her chest.

"Don't Open your eyes yet. Rest for a bit, it took a lot out of both of us." He laid down next to her in their bed and held her to him kissing her forehead.

"I didn't abandon you Sakura. I never left you. Even if you couldn't see me, I was with you. I'm sorry I made you feel so alone. I thought it was the best way to keep you safe but I was wrong." He hugged her close and kissed her cheek.

"You are the only family I have left now. I will never leave you again. A promise." He bite his thumb and hers and pressed them together. "A promise in blood." and they fell asleep.

Itachi woke not long after he had drifted off. Sakura was still in his arms sleeping. He had been such a fool to let things happen as they had.

The Akatsuki had been watching Naruto since he had left the Leaf monitoring his movements.

After Naruto had killed jiraiya they had confronted him, tried to reason with him, help him control the beast within, but he had almost killed the four members that had been sent on that mission. They returned badly damaged close to death.

Itachi had been dispatched with Sasori and Deidara to monitor Sakura Haruno more closely and see if she would be open to their way of thinking, that shinobi could be used as a weapon for peace, but things had gotten out of control.

Naruto had been making his way slowly back to Konoha meandering around the countryside in no recognizable pattern. They thought they had more time. They were wrong and this was the result.

Itachi had arrived at the village with Deidara, Kisame and Sasori to find it in ruins and his little brother's team fighting the Nine Tails Naruto. He had been teleporting to her when Naruto had struck down in the middle of the three with his Tailed Beast Rasengan.

Earth had exploded up around them. With his sharingan he saw her go flying, rocks hitting her body relentlessly as they flew through the air. She had landed hard in the rubble he hadn't been fast enough to catch her. Her body was bloody and broken, he almost wept but he didn't have time. Sasuke lay just feet away from her, dead.

Without hesitating he lifted Sakura in his arms and took the few steps needed to reach his brother and laid her down beside Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes were open...Mangekyo...just now?

Had his brother's eye changed in that moment? Had he thought Sakura was dead, maybe even Kakashi, or was it seeing his village destroyed by his team mate, his friend, someone he thought of as a brother?

Taking a glass jar from his cloak Itachi took his little brothers eyes and put them in the jar. He sealed it with a jutsu and closed Sasuke's lids. He lifted Sakura up into his arms.

"We need to move." It was Kisame. He was looking down at Sasuke's dead body. "I'm sorry Itachi."

"We need to move, but I need to do something first. I need a day, tell the others I will meet them at the base, Haruno San will be coming with me." Itachi hadn't waited for a reply before he jumped into the air.

Deidara stepped up beside Kisame." Is he going to be okay?" He asked the shark.

"He is Uchiha Itachi, if this breaks him we are all fucked. Come on." and they went to join Sasori who was waiting for them at the former gates to Konoha, no doubt impatient he had to wait.

Itachi looked out the window of their cabin, it was late in the afternoon. They would eat , rest a little more. They would need to leave by morning at the latest, but hey also needed to replenish their chakra. Sakura was starting to stir in his arms.

"Don't open your eyes yet I need to tell you how to do it slowly, the shock might activate the sharingan and do damage to the newly transferred state." He kissed her forehead and she nodded.

He sat her up and then sat opposite her on the bed so they were facing one another. He took her hands in his and squeezed them for reassurance,or his reassurance or hers he wasn't sure. The only non-Uchiha with a sharingan that he knew of was Hatake Kakashi.

"Try to feel around your eyes with your chakra, sooth them, reduce any remaining swelling and make sure everything is connected properly before we proceed." he said.

She nodded and he could feel her chakra run through her eyes in small little ebbing waves.

'Everything is perfectly connected, no swelling, I'm good." She told him.

"Slowly, very slowly open your eyes Sakura." He held his breath. He wasn't sure if they would be green or red. He had never combined eyes before. It was, in theory, supposed to allow the person receiving the eyes to maintain the uses of them like a natural born Uchiha but he had never seen it done. He had only read it in a scroll, the scroll that was open on the bed beside them.

Sakura was holding her breath as she opened her eyes. She could see the outline of Itachi but he was a little fuzzy. She blinked, and he came into focus.

Itachi watched as she blinked a smile forming on her lips. "Itachi." She breathed.

"Sakura." He looked into her beautiful green eyes. "Thank goodness." He said.

"What?" She tilted her head to the side.

"I had hoped it would work, that you would keep your green eyes. I love your green eyes. Sakura, you are so very beautiful." and he kissed her lips gently but quickly.

"Want to see if you can use the Mangekyo?" He smiled at her. He was excited, he couldn't wait to look at her and see the sharingan eyes on her.

"I'm a little nervous." She laughed.

"Let's go slow. Think of water moving in a sink, how it swirls around the basin before going down the drain. Let your chakra flow around your eyes and then let it drain into your brain stem to connect to the rest of your system, like water going down the drain in a sink." He told her in a calm soothing voice.

Sakura squished up her face at the thought then suddenly her eyes blazed crimson and the tomes spun in her eyes, changed and spun again, stopped then spun again. She felt dizzy. She closed her eyes and her tomes spun in her head, she opened them and they spun again. She fell back onto their bed eyes closed.

"Interesting." Itachi said. He had picked the scroll back up and was scanning through it giving her a glance every few lines.

"What's interesting?" She asked from her spot on their bed.

"Your tomes, they changed and then changed again...they change five times. I've, I've never seen that before. I wonder ..." He trailed off in his thoughts as he read the scroll.

"I thought they only have two phases, no three, the awakening, the mangekyo and then the final eternal mangekyo." She said.

"Well, those are the only ones we know of. The Mangekyo's power changes with the individual, they can acquire the Susanoo, Amaterasu for example, or Kotoamatsukami, like Shisui had but the possibilities are endless as are the talents of an individual." He continued to read the scroll as she thought this over.

''The scrolls says that the skills of the individual whose eyes you take are transferred to the new user and they combine with the new chakra to form additional possible abilities." he read to her.

"You being a non-Uchiha, with your perfect chakra control and vast chakra capacity may have exceeded the known limits to the Mangekyo, in fact, I think you might have the Eternal Mangekyou. I am not sure yet but I know I saw at least five different tomes spin in your eyes." He was looking at her in wonder, he glanced at the diamond seal on her forehead and tilted his head in thought.

She opened her eyes and watched him.

"You are amazing Sakura. I never know what you will surprise me with next, an enigma." He continued to look at her.

"That's what Sasuke told me, I was a puzzle to him, that he had never figured out." She looked down at her hands.

"He will live on, in you." Itachi told her.

"This will take some getting used to." She said.

"How do you feel?" He raised his hand to her face.

"I feel, strong. I want to see you again with the sharingan, I didn't get a chance to enjoy it before, it made me dizzy. Do you think it is okay to try again?" She asked him.

"Yes," He said slowly. "Try to focus on one set of tomes maybe, try to focus on these." His eyes bled red and his tomes spun into a circle with three points slanting out of the circle on the sides.

She took a deep breath and focused her chakra then opened her eyes to the three point, slanted circle matching Itachi's eyes.

They sat there looking at one another for a moment, eyes locked, sharingan to sharingan.

"Itachi, you're , you're so handsome, I , it's you, but it's more...it is like I never really saw you before, it's so clear. I missed you." she started to cry and she looked into his eyes, her tomes spun again, forming a six point flower pattern.

"Sakura, take a deep breath and calm down." He said and her eyes faded back to green. "Our emotion is what drives our abilities."

For the Uchiha there is no greater thing than love." He looked at her while he talked rubbing his thumb across her cheek, wiping the tears away.

"We love so strongly, so deeply, it consumes us, it blinds us. Sometimes it makes us go insane." He dropped his hand to his lap and looked out the window.

He looked back to her face, into her beautiful now green eyes and sighed. "You drive me insane Sasuke, I love you."

"Itachi ...Itachi, you know I love you too." She sat up in their bed and hugged him.

They sat there holding one another for a time just resting their heads on one another's shoulders, close, warm and comforted by one another's presence.

When he spoke again his voice was quiet, controlled. "I saw you with him Sakura, with Kakashi that night after the fight. I saw you let him touch you. Why? Why Sakura?"

He almost choked, the control in his voice lost. "It made me sick to watch, it made me sick Sakura. You knew I loved you, why let him touch you. He loves you, and you let him come to you and...and…." He couldn't talk anymore.

"I didn't encourage him, but I didn't stop him. I didn't feel anything. I didn't want to feel. I was so...lonely after you left Itachi. I was alone, he was there and I felt nothing." She said still holding onto him.

His hold on her was almost painful but she didn't move.

"I heard you...you liked him touching you. You, said his name like, like he was me. It killed me Sakura. Were you trying to hurt me, trying to get back at me for leaving ?" He whispered turning his head into her hair and sucking air in through his nose noisily.

"I wasn't trying to hurt you, I was hurting and it...was a small comfort, to have him there. I didn't want him, I do not love him...and I did stop him." She turned her head away from his neck looking out the window.

"You did. You did stop him and I am here now, and I will never let you be alone again." He crushed her to his body pushing his weight into her, they fell back onto their bed.

"I will never let you be alone again, I promise. You belong to me Sakura, me." He kissed her hard, almost forcefully, possessively and she let him. He had never showed so much emotion to her before, so much passion, and she let him.


	20. Chapter 20

Itachi had his hands in her hair running his fingers through it over and over, tugging on it here and there gripping her head, kissing her hard, maddeningly so.

She rubbed against him willingly urging him to do more, to touch her more, to kiss her ...more. He ran his tongue over her lips and she parted them for him. She took his tongue with hers and moaned into his mouth, making him press her further into their bed.

His hands left her hair and came to the front of her shirt tugging at the buttons to remove it from her person. He threw it to the floor as soon as it was undone and asked her," Do you want me Sakura, do you love me?"

"Yes, Itachi." and she reached up and brought his mouth to her again as he took off his shirt. They broke away for him to pull it over his head and she started to untie his pants while he removed his forearm guards and those too got thrown to the floor.

"You need to get out of those pants Mrs. Uchiha," He said to her as she pulled his now loose waisted pants down , bunching them at his hips. He lifted his body and slid them down off his feet as he tugged at her skirt and shorts.

"Mrs. Uchiha?, but we aren't married .' She smiled at him as she spread her hands over his chest feeling his warm skin slide over her now naked body.

"We will be soon, I am the Clan heir, and when we join together, we will be married by Uchiha clan laws." He kissed her then, his tongue pushing past her teeth into her mouth, she moaned and mewled rocking up against his body, it felt so good.

-Finally! Took you guys long enough damn it-

Shut up she told herself, quiet, I want to enjoy this.

Silence.

Itachi ran his hands down the sides of her body moaning and nipping at her lips, her neck then moving down her body to rest his head against her chest in between her naked breasts.

"I love you. I love you Sakura. Don't ever leave me." He looked up to her as she looked down over her chest r, he looked so good there, he belonged there. Her eyes bled red and she gasped. Everything was so clear and...beautiful, he was so handsome. She sighed.

He hugged her and his eyes bled red matching hers as he kissed her breasts one by one taking a nipple into his mouth he sucked it gently caressing her other breast, rubbing his legs against hers.

"I want to taste you Sakura, I want to own you." He moved lower on her body kissing her inch by inch, her tummy, her hip, the inside of her thigh, his hands making little swishing motions back and forth on her inner thighs.

She looked down across the length of her body at him with small mewl and she closed her eyes as he pushed her legs apart with his hands and licked her entrance with his tongue, fingers splayed across her things keeping her legs open for him.

He purred into her as he slid his tongue up inside her, she jerked and moved but he held her firm and kissed her.

"Itachi," she begged, "Please." she moaned.

"Please what," he smiled as he licked her once more and moved his tongue over her clit.

"Please , now, Itachi.' He laughed softly and kissed her one last time moving up over her body, so soft, he said to himself, so beautiful.

His hands were in her hair again and he was kissing her deeply, she could taste herself on his lips and she groaned low and deep. He kneaded her legs open gently, raising up and over her, he lined his member up with her entrance, she raised her ass up to meet him and he slid into her slowly, gasping for air and holding his breath, he stopped just short of her last line of resistance and looked her in the eye, asking. She nodded and he slid into her, breaking the last barrier of their relationship, driving himself home.

A sharp intake of breath and of pain brought him out of his daze and he stopped for a moment and kissed her, she moved against him and he started to move with her. She reached down and green chakra flooded her hand healing herself and easing the pain. He pushed in a little deeper and was rewarded with a small gasp of pleasure. He moved out and in again kissing her though every motion.

She brought her hips up to his with such force his head dropped to her forehead and he groaned loudly. He drew out of her to his tip and then thrust back into her hard, she cried out his name "Itachi," like a curse and bit his neck.

"Sakura." He couldn't hold back anymore, he couldn't be gentle. He wanted to own her, he pulled out and thrust back in over and over bringing her to the edge and backing off to let her fall then lifting her with his arms around her back he flipped her so she was on top of him. He held her by her waist and pushed and pulled her on top of him till she caught her rhythm and moved over him slowly at first then faster as she learned how to move. He lay under her breathing hand gripping the covers rough under his fists as she rode him, her breasts bouncing as she moved, his cock hard deep within her.

"Sakura, I'm close, are you, can you, how can I make you come." He gasped trying to hold onto his sanity.

She slid off of him and kissed his cheek, he leaned over her taking her by the legs and pulling her to the end of the bed, "Bend over wife' and she bent over the end of the bed, before she could even lay her chest on the bed he was inside her, her legs spread wide taking him in deeper and deeper, she cried out in pleasure as he leaned over the back of her biting her neck.

'Itachi I'm coming, Itachi." She mewled over and over whispering his name. He smiled and grit his teeth at the same time. "So beautiful, so beautiful and mine, mine." He thrust into her hard and came , once then twice into her gripping her ass as he stayed locked inside of her, slowly stepping back and climbing back into their bed dragging her on top of him, they lay there spent, sweat slick on their bodies.

Her head rested against his chest, his arms enveloped her.

"Wife." He whispered to her, his chin resting on the top of her head, her hair spilling over his chest sticking to his face.

"Husband." She curled her fingers into his and brought his hand to tuck beneath her chin and kissed it.

"I love you."

Itachi came to a stop just outside of Amegakure, The Village Hidden by Rain as the sun was rising. Sakura stopped beside him and they looked at the village together.

"Welcome home Sakura." He smiled at her.

"Fucking hell." The words cracked in his head and his voice cracked as they came out of bloodied lips.

Kakashi hurt all over. His arm was broken he thought has he lay crumpled on his side in a very uncomfortable imitation of a crappy rock garden. Red, everything was tinted red. Concussion? Probably. He didn't move.

Ragged breathing met his ears and he tried to zone in on it, Sasuke?

"Sasuke." Kakashi called out for the boy. "Sasuke?"

"Ka...Kakashi." Sasuke groaned, "My eyes. He took...my eyes." Sasuke said weakly.

"Naruto ?" Kakashi said, "Why would…"

"Itachi, Itachi took my eyes." Sasuke said and coughed, a gurgly weak wet cough. He has blood in his lungs. "He took my eyes and he took Sakura, Kakashi, go , you have to get her back."

"When, do you know how long?" Kakashi asked

No answer. Kakashi listened , was Sasuke breathing? Shit. Sakura. Fucking Itachi! He had tried to warn her. Damn damn damn!

Where did Naruto go?

Get up you old dog, get up, you have to get to Sasuke, he yelled at himself, you have to get to Sakura, she is in danger, get up! He couldn't move. Fucking hell, not again. He was going to lose everyone he loved all over again.

Itachi led her to a bridge leading to the main part of the village. It was raining. He held his hand up to a post and his ring glowed crimson and he motioned her through the rail. "I had to unlock it for you to enter." He took her hand and they walked across the bridge.

"We will be going to the tallest tower, it is where Leader Sama lives, he will want to meet you right away." Itachi said to her smiling.

"The leader of the Akatsuki?" Sakura's eyes went wide.

"Yes" he smiled at her, "Don't worry, he will welcome you, you are amazing and strong, how could he not want you to join us." He led them across the village to a very tall dark and rusty tower.

"You said it was too soon for me to join though." She was a bit nervous.

"With Sasuke's eyes, it is time. You are ready now, we are ready." He kissed her hand. "I will not be parted from you again." They walked up the steps of the tower together and went inside.

"Haruno San, it is a pleasure to meet you in person at last." Pein's deep voice flooded over her.

-He is strong, not as strong as Itachi, but very strong-

"The pleasure is mine Pein Sama." Sakura bowed formally to him

He smiled at the respectful gesture.

"Itachi San will be your mentor as you are both from Konoha and will explain to you the rules and the ways of our organization but first, we must test your skills." Pein said , purple ringed eyes of the rinnegan fixed on her green ones.

"Leader Sama, Haruno San has recently acquired the eyes of my deceased younger brother Uchiha Sasuke. She will need time to adjust to their power and make it her own. She has also developed...two new tomes, due to her own attributes in combination to the Mangekyo sharingan of my brothers." Itachi told him with pride clear in his voice.

"Has she." Pein's gaze did not waver from her face but seemed to intensify greatly, she felt a weight fall on her, as if her chakra was being analyzed.

She tilted her head to the side and gazed back at him, just as intensely, focusing her chakra on him and pushing his back away from her.

He smiled and inclined his head to her.

She nodded and smiled back.

"We will test you in a weeks time Haruno San. I am..looking forward to it." Pein inclined his head once more.

They had been dismissed.

Itachi led her down the hallway to the stairs and out of the tower.

"We will be in a different tower by the park. For now, we will stay in separate rooms. I do not think it wise to let them know we are married yet. Let them get to know you, respect your skill then , in time we can tell them." He said.

"I understand." She nodded, it made sense. This was all new to her, she trusted him.

They went into a tower by the park like he had said, it was nice and not at all what she had expected. They had come off the street into the main lobby. There were rich dark red carpets on the floors and strange pictures on the walls in frames. A grand stairway led up to the second floor.

"Your rooms will be on this floor to the left and mine are to the right." He walked her to the left. Off the grand stairway there was a small sitting area with a small table and two chairs, a few bookshelves with books and a big oak door at the opposite entrance from where they stood.

Through the oak door were her private rooms he explained. It was an open floor plan, she had a small breakfast nook with a mini fridge, sink and single person hotpot, it was very luxurious and she smiled. A large comfortable futon sat on a raised platform across from a huge window that took up most of the wall and the bathroom to the right.

She went to the bathroom door and slid it open to find an old style bamboo round bath with bucket and dipper, a sink and modern toilet.

"This is amazing Itachi." She smiled at him.

"It is the nicer of the two rooms. I moved out of this one about 2 years ago when I considered you joining me here. I , wanted it to be ready for you, when you came." He blushed...Uchiha Itachi was blushing at her! It was adorable.

"You had planned on me coming to be with you, 2 years ago? " She stared at him.

" You thought I was a crow." he pointed out.

"It just seems unreal, being here with you. Finding out Naruto is a traitor. Sasuke...his eyes, my new eyes and Kakashi." She looked down at her hands and bit her lip.

Itachi's eyes had hardened when she had said Kakashi's name.

"It will take some getting used to but I think you could be very happy here, with me." He tried to calm down, this was a shock for her, so much had changed so suddenly. He needed to be understanding and supportive.

"I have to write my report, please, go explore the tower, the other member's rooms are higher up but in the basement there is a common room with a television and a kitchen area. Explore the city but wear this when you go out." He handed her a wrapped package.

She took it from him and untied the string, the paper slipped away to reveal a black cloak with a high collar, red clouds outlined in white adorned it.

"Welcome to the Akatsuki." He kissed her then, softly and drew back hesitantly. "I will be back in a few hours. If you need me, if something should happen use this."

A small storage scroll was placed in her hand and she looked at it puzzled.

"Open it, you will know what it means. I will see you later." he gave her another small kiss and left the room.

Sakura stood in the middle of her new room. It felt like a dream, like she was asleep and would wake up at any moment to find this was a dream, she would wake to find herself in bed at the inn , Sasuke sleeping next to her on his side of the bed, alive.

"Sasuke, I'm so sorry. Kakashi, where are you?" She sat on the floor in the middle of the room, she wasn't crying she was just stunned, a little shocked.

"Sakura?" A voice called to her from her new room's door. She turned to look over her shoulder, "Deidara" She smiled.

"Sakura!" He walked into her room looking around.

"Wow, fancy, how the hell did you get such a nice room so soon yeah?" He hugged her.

"Itachi showed me to it" She said.

"It used to be his room, Leader Sama gave him a really nice room because he is Uchiha Itachi yeah, but then 2 years ago he moves out into the storage room. We all thought he had lost his mind, till he started renovating this one. Told us you would come eventually hey. Never knew it was this nice though!" He gave her an odd look.

"What" she asked him.

"I didn't expect you to be here, I was surprised when I heard. Did he force you like he did me yeah?" Deidara gave her a sympathetic look.

"He forced you? No, he didn't force me, I came. After, after what happened to my village and Sasuke and I came with him." She ended lamely.

"You okay? I was there, I saw that crazy Nine tails attack you and your team. I tried to help you but I got pulled away by Kisame, he said Itachi was coming for you, to help you yeah." Deidara was watching her in that way he did sometimes. Sakura had figured out it meant he was thinking, trying to figure something out.

"Kisame? Hoshigaki? The Shark nin?" She asked.

"Yeah him hey, decent guy. He is Itachi's partner. Want to meet him?" Deidara asked her smiling.

"Uh sure." She said, smiling back at him.

"But Deidara," she said before he could turn all the way around," Do you know why I am here, what Pein Sama wants me here for?" She asked him.

"Leader Sama, don't call him Pein Sama, he will get mad. I don't know for sure. Itachi was very adamant about you coming through, he said that you had to join us for everything to work." Deidara shrugged.

"Pein Sama didn't mind my calling him that, and for what to work?" She asked.

Deidara's eyes widened ..."You, called him Pein and her didn't kill you or hurt you , or at least yell at you?"

"Uh no?" She said.

"Wow, they must really want you here. I don't know for what though sorry Sakura." He went to grab her hand and she pulled back. He looked at her a bit surprised.

"Oh, did he tell you not to make friends with me?" He asked her.

"No, it's not that just.' She looked down at her hands by reflex.

He sighed and lifted her chin with his finger, "Stop doing that yeah, look at me, what did he say?" His eyes were concerned.

"He didn't tell me anything, honest, just, I don't think it is a good idea." She said, Itachi had told her not to tell anyone they were married yet.

"I know I really wanted you to come and join us, but I feel like, you didn't really want to come now that you are here?" He looked at her his finger still on her face.

"No, I want to be here, it is, I'll just, I'll get used to it." She tried to smile at him and pulled her face back.

"Let's go see who is home and I will introduce you." Deidara took her hand and dragged her out of her room.

They made their way down stairs to where Itachi had told her is a common room, kinda like a living room. There was a large TV in the middle of the largest wall, two overstuffed couches in front of it in an "L" shape. A long breakfast counter ran along the kitchen separating it from the rest of the room, there were coffee tables, end tables and a shogi board in the corner. A big dining room table took up the far left wall by the kitchen.

Deidara and her entered the room and everyone in it comically stopped what they were doing and stared at her. She let go of Deidara's hand and stood there for a moment.

"Uh, Hi." She waved...like an idiot on the first day of a new school.

"Hi indeed." Sasori looked up from the large dining room table where he seemed to have been cutting up several human hands. "Nice to see you again Sakura."

"Fresh fish!" Yelled a tall man in the corner drinking a beer. "Who is this hot thing huh? Nice fucking ass on her, come here baby let me see you." He wolf whistled at her

"Back off Hidan, behave yourself." A beautiful solemn looking woman told him as she walked over to Sakura and Deidara.

"I am Khonan, Sakura. Welcome." She bowed slightly.

"It is a great pleasure for me to be here" Sakura bowed back no less formal than the bow she gave Pein upon her arrival.

Khonan smiled a little smile and gestured toward the kitchen, "Are you hungry? I have just made cookies, would you like one?"

"Oh please!" Sakura smiled widely and followed her.

"I want one too yeah." Deaidara followed them

"Make your own then." Khonan told him." It is Sakura's first day, she gets cookies, you don't."

Khonan shooed him away and he went to sit on the couch and picked up the TV remote.

"Can I have a fuckin cookie? I didn't get any on my first day." The one called Hidan cussed out.

"No." Khonan didn't even look up from the cookie tray as she replied to him. She handed Saura two cookies in a napkin and winked at her. Sakura smiled at her. She liked this Khonan.

"Milk?" Khonan asked her.

"Allow me to get it for us." Sakura put her cookies down and went to the fridge to get the milk and searched the cupboards for the glasses.

Khonan nodded in approval at her initiative.

Sakura sat there chatting with Khonan for a little bit with Sasori saying an odd word here and there, Hidan cursing every chance he got and Deidara waving his arms around enthusiastically as he talked. Sakura smiled to herself, it was like a big extended family. An extended family of highly trained, dangerous, blood thirsty missing nin.

Kisame wasn't there she was told and the other members were out. It seemed that their time was their own if they were on missions, they could go anywhere they pleased do whatever they liked as long as it didn't interfere with the groups main objective.

"What is the main objective?" Sakura asked Khonan.

"I believe Pein Sama will be informing you of that as well as the role he wishes you to play in it after your skills tests in a week." She told her.

Sakura nodded," okay, sounds good."

"I think I am going to go back to my room and, well, I don't have any clothes to unpack, " She laughed a little but frowned a bit. "I only have my gear and a few civilian clothes."

"Let's go shopping tomorrow." Khonan smiled at her. "It is nice to have another woman in our group."

"I wanna go hey!" Deidara called over to them from the couch.

"No." Khonan said

Sakura chuckled, yes, she liked Khonan.

"Thank you for the cookies they were delicious, you are a very good cook. Maybe you could teach me if we get time, I am a terrible cook." Sakura smiled at her.

"I would...like that." Khonan actually smiled brightly at that.

Sakura waved goodbye to the room and made her way back to her room. As she came up the stairs turning to her door she could sense someone sitting in her little nook area with the two chairs and the book shelves.

She slowly and quietly walked around the corner and he came into view. He had on the cloak like the others but he had a bright orange mask over his face with only one eye hole. He was swinging his feet back and forth like a small child and she couldn't help but smile.

"Hi there." She greeted him, his back was to her, she didn't want to startle him.

"Oh so pretty!' Came the childish voice from behind the mask.

"Such a pretty kunoichi! Oh pink so pink!" He jumped from the chair and collided with her pushing her back up against the wall by the opposite chair.

Pinning her up against the wall with his body he played with her hair, "So pretty!" He rubbed his masked face against hers.

"Um, I'm sorry but could you please give me some space, this is very inappropriate." She tried to gently push him off her but he didn't move...at all. Shit, he was strong, all muscle.

-he is not who he appears to be, something is off about him, there is something dark in him, be careful-

"OH! I'm so sorry!, " He leapt back and away from her.

She blinked, so fast! He moved so fast!

Her eyes widened.

"I'm Tobi Kun." He swung his arms back and forth as though he was unable to sit still and pointed to his nose, well, where his nose would be if he wasn't wearing a mask.

"I am pleased to meet you Tobi Kun, I am Haruno Sakura, I hope we can be friends." She reached a hand out to him for a hand shake.

He grabbed her hand and dragged her into her bedroom skipping.

"Yes let's be friends Sakura Chan!' He let go of her hand skipping around her room again.

She made her way over to the window to look out and turned when she felt him behind her. His body was inches from hers, she could feel the heat of him seeping through her clothes.

"Tobi Kun?" She licked her lips.

His one eye followed the movement.

"What are you doing Tobi Kun?"

"Playing.' His voice had changed. It was deeper, not like a child, it was low and deep and dangerous.

She tried to step to the side to move away from him but he pressed his hands up onto the glass on either side of her blocking her escape.

"Don't you want to play with me? Or do you only play with Itachi?" He breathed the words into her neck, hot against her skin.

When had he? What is going on?

"Itachi?" She whispered, she didn't know if she had said his name as a question or a plea.

"Will you let me kiss you, touch you, lick you like he does. I could make you moan louder than him, want me to show you my dear?" He took his hand from the window and grabbed her around the waist throwing her onto the bed and climbing on top of her.

-Oh fuck no man! Get the fuck off of me now!-

She infused her hands with chakra and launched him across the room. He hit the wall but instead of going through it he kicked off of it and was back to the bed before she could stand up.

"You like to play rough, careful darling, I might like it a little too much." He grabbed her by the hair and bent her neck back and kissed her so hard that she tasted blood.

"You might think you belong to Itachi but you really belong to me."

Her head snapped back up and he was gone.

"What the hell." She said to no one.


	21. Chapter 21

"We couldn't find a trail, we have no idea where he is. No sign of Haruno either." a voice said beside him

"The kid is in ICU, we don't know if he will make it yet." a different voice

"His eyes? They say he took his eyes, this is bad, really bad." voice number one said.

"She has been forging her own medical records?" a different voice

How many people were fucking there he thoguht and why are they talking by me?

"She knows the second Hokage's jutsus! No way, how did no one know?" voice number 3?

"She had been training in secret for years, only a few people knew the truth." muffled voice.

Sakura, they were talking about Sakura.

"Her chakra levels according to her medical records before they were changed, doubled every year, if they keep doing that or who knows when they stopped, you know what I mean, it is almost scary." voice number 2

"What's scary is she left her team to die and went off with the Uchiha." voice 3

"I don't think she went willingly, she is loyal to Konoha!" angry voice.

Yes, she is loyal to konoha. I will never doubt her again.

"She is a traitor and needs to be killed!"

Kakashi's eyes snapped open and he grabbed voice number 3 by the throat and slammed him against the wall.

"NO ONE TOUCHES HER!" he snarled and growled spitting and foaming, fingers digging into a soft throat, arm trembling.

"Hatake! Drop him!" Tsunade Senju commands from the doorway.

"He said that Sakura needed to be killed. She is no traitor!" Kakashi was spitting in the man's face as he sneered, teeth bared at the man.

"I said let him go" Her voice low and commanding. "Or I won't finish healing you. And you can die here like the dog you are."

Kakashi opened his hand and the man dropped to the floor gasping for breath.

"Crazy fucking cold blooded freak. She's a traitor!" voice three foolishly said

Kakashi picked him up by the arm, and kicked him through the wall into the next room.

Tsunade threw her hands into the air, "Making more fucking work for me asshole! Enjoy your injuries, I'll be back later to maybe heal your sorry ass."

"I can wait." Kakashi got back into his hospital bed.

"She isn't a traitor, I don't know why she left with him but we will get her back. She may have been too injured to fight him off. I saw him whisper something to her , pick her up and then they were gone, heading to the forest." Yamato said.

"The forest?" Kakashi asked him

"Yeah, strange isn't it? They went in the opposite direction than the rest of the Akatsuki that were there." Yamato told him.

"She was badly injured? Where was everyone? We arrived and we didn't see anyone." Kakashi asked.

"Underground tunnel system, we got word an hour before Naruto's attack and we got everyone to safety." Yamato said.

"We didn't know what was happening until we heard your Chidori and Sakura's raging chakra, only then did we know you had returned and we sent Anbu up to help you. We found Sasuke with his eyes taken, bleeding to death, and you mangled and sliced up like dinner meat. Sakura was in Itachi's arms but before we could get to him, he was gone of course." Yamato shook his head.

"Water" Kakashi mumbled.

"Yeah sure." Yamato turned around to pour a glass of water, when he turned back to Kakashi, he was gone.

"Fucking hell Kakashi you better not be doing what I think you are doing!' Yamato groaned.

Kakashi paced back and forth by the river. He had followed their scent to his point but lost it. He went to the river ,no scent at the edge, they didn't continue by river. He went to the forest edge, it ended like, almost like it went into a wall.

Genjutsu! He made the hand signs, "Release!" A shield, waiver, it looked like a layer of glass then disappeared.

He did the hand signs again and concentrated , focusing his chakra to the wall , spreading it out like strings to crack, to break, "Release!"

There was a cabin in front of him. "What the hell?"

Kakashi was overwhelmed with Sakura's scent, it flooded his nose, washing over him like warm water.

He went to the door to listen, nothing. He sent out chakra, nothing. He opened the door.

It smelled like...sex. Kakashi narrowed his eyes and went straight to the bed. He sniffed. Sakura. Itachi.

Kakashi took a step back. He looked around. Did he force her? It didn't smell like fear. Did he trick her?

The smell of Sakura's arousal filled his nose, he groaned. He shook his head to clear it. Where did they go from here.

He went back outside. He couldn't pick up their trail, even with the genjutsu broken. Damn.

Kakashi bit his thumb and slammed it to the ground.

"Hey boss." Pakkun greeted Kakashi.

"Find Sakura, take all but Bull."

"Sakura?" Pakkun tilted his head to the side. Pakkun had met her once but had fallen in love with her, much to Kakashi's annoyance at the time.

"Yes, I think she has been kidnapped. It might look like she wants to be wherever she is but I have a bad feeling, I think she is being manipulated." Kakashi told the dog.

"Find her and then come tell me where she is, do not talk to her, do not let her see you. Don't get caught. Oh and Pakkun, I think it was Itachi who took her." Kakashi warned.

"Shit." Pakkun bobbed his head and was gone in a puff of smoke.

Itachi finished sealing the scroll he had used to combine Sasuke's eyes with Sakura's outside of Amegakure. This had not gone how he had hoped it would. He wanted Sakura with him but her being here now was a risk. She was still loyal to Konoha, and being here could put her in jeopardy.

Having Sasuke's eyes would help her. He needed to start training her as soon as possible. What new abilities had she gained? What new abilities for the Uchiha? He had been watching her all these years, she was the perfect candidate and he was glad that all his hard work and dedication was finally coming to fruition.

No time to celebrate though, there were too many outside factors to consider. The main one being Madara Uchiha. Itachi had won one battle though. He had taken Sasuke's eyes and now they were safely in Sakura. He wouldn't put it past Madara to take them from her but he would have a much harder time taking them from Sakura than he would Sasuke.

Itachi was not worried how she would fair with the Akatsuki, most of her ideals and morals were the same as theirs. She might not be willing to go to such extremes but he did not think she would be unhappy and besides, it was only temporary.

Itachi made his way slowly back to Amegakure and to their tower. He couldn't wait to see what she could do with her new eyes.

Sakura was reading the scroll he had given her when he opened the door to her room.

"Itachi, is this a summoning contract?" She asked him still looking at the scroll and not looking up at him.

"Yes." He walked up to her bed that she was on and sat down beside her.

"For the Crows?" She asked him frowning.

"Yes, do you not want a contract with them?" He asked her

"It isn't that, I only wonder why you left it with me, you said in case something happens or I need to get ahold of you." She did look up from the scroll and look at him now.

"If we have the same summons it is easier for us to communicate, it will not draw attention, one crow looks like another to those who do not have the summons contract with them." He told her

"It is beneficial for both of us." He said.

"Will I be able to turn into a crow too?" She asked.

"Let's find out." he said and smiled.

"How?" She asked him

"It is one of the abilities of my Mangekyo, there are usually two, and if you have the two abilities mastered you get the third a susanoo. I can warp mass into a summons shape. I have a contract with the crows, so I can turn into a crow, but I am not really a crow, it is a genjutsu, a high level one that so far has not been broken, though some have tried." He said.

"Do you know what my two abilities are? I have Sasuke's you said his Mangekyo so I have Amaterasu with his left eye and can shape the flames or extinguish them with his right?" She asked Itachi who nodded.

"And his susanoo." She said and he nodded again.

"What I would really like to find out though, is if you have Shisui's,Kotoamatsukami. I saw his tomes when your eyes were spinning after you opened them, it was only for a moment but I saw them. If you have his ability to manipulate someone's thoughts without them knowing...you truly will be unstoppable." Itachi stood up.

"Let's go and see shall we? Leader Sama gave us one week , I want to train for 6 hours a day at least to both assess and train your new abilities." He headed for the door.

"Can I sign this first please? She held up the summons contract."

"Yes, we will include that in the training and see if you have the ability to turn into a crow." he nodded to her.

Sakura unrolled the contract, bit her thumb hard and dabbed each of her fingers with it, stamped her imprint on the scroll at the bottom and wrote her name in blood. The scroll absorbed her signature along with her imprint glowed red then turned ink black. It was done. She looked up and smiled at Itachi following him out the door of her room.

Itachi chose a wide open space, depending on her abilities they might even need something larger. He made the hand signs and put up privacy seals. If she had acquired the skills he thinks she has he did not want it available to prying eyes.

They stood facing one another eyes red and glowing.

"Try to focus on moving your tome with your chakra, find the tome in your head, and focus on just one, any one of them will do for now, we will work on bringing forth the individual ones of choice later." He instructed her.

Sakura concentrated and did what Itachi told her to, at first it hurt her head but she flooded her eyes with healing chakra as she spun her tomes in her eyes. Itachi watched her eyes glow green then red then saw the tome spin and set.

"Kamui" He said.

"What?" she asked

"Your tomes, Kamui, it is the ability to teleport yourself, or anyone you are touching to Kamui's dimension. We need to see if it is long range like Kakashi's or short range like Obito's." Itachi said.

"Focus all the tomes into one point, they will not move but your chakra will be sucked into the point and try to envision yourself moving from one space to another."

Sakura's body flickered out of focus and spun, then she stumbled and she stopped spinning." She put her hand to her head and it glowed green relieving some of the pressure that had built up around her eyes.

"Try again, you almost had it. Focus it all into one point, like the tip of a pin." Itachi told her again.

She nodded and focused her chakra like he had instructed. She flickered, spun, and disappeared.

Itachi waited.

Sakura hadn't appeared yet.

A muffled thud across the field, he saw her drop out of the sky 10 feet in the air. He ran to her and checked for injuries. Her eyes were swollen and she was unconscious.

"Enough for now love, you did wonderfully." He picked her up releasing the protective seals and took her to her room where he laid her on her bed.

Itachi sat next to her stroking her head, finger combing her hair, when he felt his presence. He took his hand away from her hair and looked to a chair across the room to see Madara watching him.

"Madara Sama." Itachi inclined his head toward the older man, who wasn't wearing his orange mask or his short haired genjutsu. There was no need. Itachi already knew who he was.

"She is an interesting one isn't she, your wife." Madara said to Itachi.

"But you know, since I am alive and well, she isn't really your wife is she?" Madara smiled.

"Your title has long since been passed on in our clan, to me. It is official, she is my wife." Itachi said.

"A questionable topic for the future no doubt, but not important at the moment." Madara was gazing thoughtfully at Sakura.

"What abilities have you found so far?" Madara asked Itachi.

"Nothing yet, this was our first training attempt, as you can see just trying to focus on a tome has drained her. I will let her rest then we will go back to training in a few hours."

"Do you think she is strong enough, being an Uchiha can be physically...demanding on a woman." Madara smirked

"She is stronger than she looks, that is why I picked her. Do not underestimate her." Itachi spoke to him and started stroking Sakura's hair again.

"What are you planning, blood of my blood, you are plotting, do not lie to me." Madara's gaze turned hard upon Itachi.

"I only plan for the success of our clan's future, father of my blood, nothing more." Itachi looked at him

"Itachi, as strong as you are, and you are strong," Madara looked at him, almost proud," I am infinitely stronger. Remember that." and he got up and left the room.

"I am not likely to forget." Itachi said to his shadow.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Kakashi hated hospitals. He hated how broken Sasuke looked. They had cleaned up his face, there was no blood but his eye sockets were sunken under the sterile wrap, and his skin was a sickly greyish white.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

They told him Sasuke was stable, he would make it, but what kind of man would he be when he woke. What would losing his eyes do to him. Tsunade had suggested an eye transplant, regular eyes of course, from one of the fatalities the village had suffered from a civilian around Sasuke's age. A civilian.

"Sasuke, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I will get her back, I will bring her home." Kakashi reached out and patted the young man's hand.

Kakashi sat back in the chair he had pulled up to Sasuke's bed and stared at the wall as thought flew through his head.

"Hatake San, Hokage Sama would like to speak with you." the masked figure in the doorway spoke quietly.

"I'll be right there."

When Kakashi entered the office of the Hokage he found several people already there.

"Kakashi, good, let's get started." Minato said to the room.

"As you know my son the ninetails has lost control of the tailed beast and the nine tails in now in control of Naruto. I am responsible. I should have tightened the seal and never let him attempt to control the beast." Minato looked each person in the eye in turn as he spoke.

"Sakura Haruno is missing, by her own choice or kidnapped by one Uchiha Itachi." Minato paused here.

"What I am about to tell you does not leave this room." Minato looked from Kakashi, to Yamato and Sai.

"Uchiha Itachi is a double agent for Konoha, he is not a traitor. He has been working undercover for us since he was discovered five years ago in rain country. He was ordered to kill his clan by the council of Konoha to prevent a civil war. The decision was made under my predecessor." Minato said.

"I don't believe it." Kakashi said flatly.

"I just found out myself." Minato said.

"Itachi si the one who warned us about the attack on the village?" Yamato asked.

"Yes." Minato confirmed.

"He saved thousands of lives." Yamato muttered.

"How do you know he is not working for the Akatsuki and only pretending to be working for us?" Kakashi did not believe it.

"His one condition for the mission to slaughter his clan was that Sasuke be spared and that Sasuke be the one to kill him and avenge the clan and the family name. Sasuke was to be a hero. However, it seems his plans have changed and we don't know why." Minato said wearily.

"What changed?" Kakashi asked eyes narrowed to slits.

"He took Sasuke's eyes." Minato said simply.

"But he left Sasuke alive." Sai pointed out

"It wasn't Itachi who attacked the village." Yamato said.

"There is not enough evidence to provide an accurate conclusion." Sai spoke.

"Why would he take Sakura with him.?" Kakashi asked Minato.

"We don't know." Minato replied

"You have a hunch though don't you ?" Kakashi knew he did.

"I think Itachi plans on giving her Sasuke's eyes. With her perfect chakra control, her estimated chakra reserves to rival the nine tails if her records are correct, her seal on her forehead, and her natural genius...she is essentially the ultimate weapon." Minato admits.

"Her potential is limitless." Kakashi said.

"I believe Itachi took her to also keep her safe, he thinks the safest place is with him now." Minato continued to say. "He loves her, has for years now."

"He took her right into the viper's pit!" Kakashi protested, Sai looked like he was just about to say the same thing.

"This is Itachi Uchiha remember." Minato reminded him.

"So what do we do now?" Yamato asked.

"Your mission is to find out if Sakura left on her own free will, if she is being manipulated or controlled and one more thing. Itachi's last report, said Madara Uchiha is the real leader of the Akatsuki, not Pein as we previously thought." Minato said.

"Madara Uchiha?" Kakashi hissed, "but that's impossible, he's dead."

"Apparently not according to Itachi, find out." Minato dismissed them.


	22. Chapter 22

Sakura took a deep breath. She simply had to try harder. It was ridiculous they had hardly made any progress and she had already had to take a break. She would not be dead weight, not again, not anymore.

She would be the first to admit this was harder than anything she had ever tried to do. What's more, Itachi seemed to be at a loss as to how much power she really had or how to control each individual tome. He seemed to be making educated guesses. Itachi was a genius and she trusted him but know that made the task even more daunting to her, thus making her more nervous.

Focusing her chakra into a point after focusing on her Kamui she breathed deep and felt her vision flicker, that was it. More, she needed a little more. Flicker, spinning. She disappeared.

Where was she? It was a room but not a room with big blocks? Another deep breath, focus, her stomach gurgled, she thought of the hot pot in her room back at the tower, she was dizzy, her vision was spinning, her feet hit the floor with a thud. She felt the preassure of the air change around her.

"What?" She was in her room in the tower. Did she just. What happened? Wow.

Concentrate she told herself, concentrate, chakra flowed to a pinpoint, Itachi, now, dizzy, go , go, go, her feet touched the ground, she stumbled and fell. Itachi.

Sakura looked around, she was back where she had started from. This is insane! She smiled. She did it. She felt incredible.

"Amazing." Itachi's eyes were wide. She had never seen such an expression on his face before. It was glorious to see.

"Did I , just teleport? I was here, then in a colorless room, then my room in the tower, then here." Her head hurt. Lifting her hand to her temples she soothed the pressure with the chakra.

"You went to a dimension called Kamui, then you teleported to your room?" Itachi asked her.

She nodded but stopped abruptly as it made her head start to hurt again. She felt a little sick.

"Then you teleported here, you didn't go from your room to Kamui?" He asked her.

"No, I went from here to a strange place with blocks and mono colors, then my room in the tower to here." She confirmed her actions with him.

"The place with the blocks as you say," He smiled at her description of Kamui, "Is Kamui."

Itachi thought for a moment looking at her.

"When you were in Kamui , what were you thinking of, were you thinking of your room?" Itachi wondered if thinking of a place took you there next, it was unthinkable but she was exceptional already why limit the possibilities. He didn't have Kamui and the instruction he gave her was derived from his own curious research years ago while he was still at the academy.

"Yes, I was thinking of using the hot pot in my room because I was hungry, but then I wanted to get back to you and I, my vision started spinning and , here I am?" She said it like she couldn't believe it either.

Itachi smiled, a genuine wide smile.

"Sakura. You just made history. No Uchiha has ever been able to teleport in such a way using Kamui." he wondered how far she could go, how many times she could do it before she got too tired.

"Really? " She smiled.

"Yes, want to do it again?" he asked her

"Kamui?" She asked

"Yes, let's make history again. This time I want you to try to use kamui to teleport yourself to." he looked around." that mountain's base, he pointed to a mountain in the distance. It was rather far, but he didn't want to limit her either.

"Are you insane? I can't do that." Her jaw dropped open.

"You can't if you limit yourself. I think you can. Try." He smiled at her.

"Okay, here goes nothing." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, focusing her chakra to a pin point and thinking of the mountains base she gently starts pushing her chakra forward, deep breath, push, flicker, she opens her eyes, spinning, flicker. She stumbled forward and falls.

She looks around, she hasn't moved. Sakura frowns, what did she do wrong? Maybe focus on something at the base of the mountain, something specific.

She remembers a big rock that looks like a potato at the base of the mountain, she focuses her chakra to a point, rock potato , mountain, rock, focus, flicker, fading, slowly, spinning round, pain, round, she falls hard, loses her footing and rolls off of a huge rock that looks like a potato.

"Holy shit." She grins, ignoring the throbbing in her head behind her eyes.

"Okay okay, now to get back." She says to herself.

Focus, chakra, Itachi, fading, she starts to feel sick, no, focus sakura, Itachi , pain, focus on him, the field, his smile, his eyes, dizzy, so dizzy, spinning , she sways, she stumbles. Itachi catches her before she falls.

"I don't feel so great." She says and closes her eyes. She is so dizzy and the throbbing is worse.

"Yes, but you did it. You made history twice today Sakura. You're amazing. So amazing." He kissed her forehead.

"I just need a minute okay? Just a minute and I want to try it again." She assured him.

"Check your chakra levels and your reserves." He tells her

"They are a little low but not bad. I might be able to do it again with a shorter distance." She offers.

"Rest a moment, let's try something different. Obito could teleport objects or people with him to kamui. I want to see if you can do that as well. Here have some water." Itachi hands her a bottle of water and kisses her forehead again.

"This is amazing Sakura, I'm almost jealous." He smiles at her.

Sakura scoffs, "You jealous of me? That's funny Uchiha."

"You have abilities no other Uchiha has ever had in the written history of our clan Sakura. I think it must have a lot to do with your immense chakra reserves and control, you don't waste any chakra, so you have more, to do more." She is doing better than he had ever hoped and it is the first day. He had made the right choice to give Sakura Sasuke's eyes, he knew she would use them well.

"Okay let's try it. I will take both of us to Kamui and bring us back ?" She asks him and he nods.

She reaches out her hand and takes his, focuses her chakra , her vision spins, she pushes her chakra forward, it is harder this time, it doesn't want to move, she expands it, reaches out and pushes hard, sharp knife like pains explode in her head.

They fall hard onto a mono colored block in an odd room.

"Amazing!" Itachi says as he looks around.

"You keep saying that." she laughs looking around holding her head. "Kinda drab in here huh? Could use some decorations." As she says that a vase of flowers spins into existence by them.

"How did I do that?" She asks him

"Are you alright?" Itachi notices hoe she holds her head and is grimacing through her smiles.

"Just a bit of pressure." She smiled, "The price of the eyes yeah?"

"Yeah, uh." He motions to the vase.

"You brought it here with your will, I think, but from where...do you recognize the flowers?" he asked her.

"No, they just look like...wait. They are, oh my gosh Itachi...those were the flowers my dad bought my mom from Ino's flower shop last year! How is that possible?" Sakura is a little more than surprised.

"Are you absolutely sure they are the same flowers, they could just look alike, there are a lot of flowers?" Itachi is looking at her

"Yes. There should be a silver coin in the bottom of the vase, a vase I made her at the academy." She picks it up and looks, there is a small silver coin at the bottom. Her hands begin to perspire and she sets the vase down before she drops it.

"Last year?" Itachi wants to confirm before he follows through on his thought.

"Yes, last year, so, so I can take things from time? Itachi! I just remembered! My mom accused me of throwing them away! She came downstairs to find them gone one day and no one knew where they went…she thought I had broken the vase, knocked it over by accident then threw it away so I wouldn't get into trouble." Sakura sat down hard. She was trying hard to wrap her head around this new revelation and the possibilities it brought.

Itachi was looking at the flowers again.

"Amazing." He said. "I have never heard of anyone having this ability, and you can do both short and long kamui"

"Can we go back now, I think I need to take a break. My head is starting to hurt and my eyes, they...I don't know how to describe it, they feel pained but stressed." She asks him.

"Over used. Hn." he steps towards her , she takes his hand, and they flicker, spin and vanish.

Kakashi, Sai and Yamato stood outside of Sakura's cabin in their anbu uniforms.

"I could have made a better cabin if she had asked me to." Yamato says absentmindedly looking at the cabin.

"She was six years old when she made this with the second Hokage's jutsu and Earth Style jutsu that most adults haven't mastered yet." Kakashi told him

"It is a very nice cabin for a six year old hag." Sai says looking around.

"Uh, Sai, you really should stop calling Sakura a hag." Yamato says.

"It is her nickname I have called her Hag for many years now, it is what makes us such good friends." Sai insists.

"We need to look for any possible clues in the cabin or the surrounding area. This is the last place they were that I know of." Kakashi told them, ignoring Sai.

They spread out and searched, Yamato went outside to search the surrounding forest, Kakashi recombed the cabin, and sai sent his rats up and down the river's bank and his birds to the sky.

Kakashi stood in the middle of the small cabin, he was getting restless, they hadn't found anything, there hadn't been any leads, no one had any idea where Itachi, Sakura or any of the Akatsuki were.

Picking up a small white shirt from the floor in a corner he brought it to his nose. "Sakura." Where was she? He didn't want to lose anyone else. Sakura wasn't just his student she was..she was, his equal.

He respected her. From the beginning she had intrigued him. He knew she had been watching him, knew when he had been watching her. Her dedication was admirable, she was beautiful and dangerous and...he didn't know when it happened.

Maybe it was when he had watched her video feed in the Forest of Death. She was like an angel covered in blood, so fast, so accurate, so ruthless, and so young and off limits. She grew up though, and he worried. Power can be both good or bad and he was never quite sure which side she fell on.

"Sakura." He moaned brining her shirt to his face again taking a deep breath, what was wrong with him, why couldn't he track her.

He ran his hands through his hair in frustration and fell with his head against the rough boards of the cabin looking down at the ground in defeat.

That's when he felt it, her chakra signature. It hadn't been there a moment ago he was sure. He knew her chakra like he knew his own. That's when he smelled it, he could smell her.

Kakashi bent down in the corner of the cabin looking hard as Yamato and Sai came in. Her scent ended here?

"Do you feel that? That is Sakura's chakra isn't it?" They asked him.

"You felt it too then." Kakashi said , not taking his eyes off of the corner.

Kakashi lifted his headband and studied the ground. He stepped back and made several complicated hand signs and a pit appeared. Inside was a very ornate wooden box. Kakashi brought the box up out of the pit and put it on the table.

Yamato and Sai followed him.

"Is it Sakura's?" Yamato asked.

"I don't know but I can feel her chakra on it , like she tried to infuse the box with it and it smells like her." Kakashi licked his lips, he was a little nervous, he wasn't sure what he would find in the box, he almost didn't want to know.

"Be ready just in case." Kakashi told them and opened the box, stepping back quickly.

Nothing happened.

Kakashi stepped forward and looked in the box. His eyes widened, it was an old rusted Konoha headband with a red wrapper, "Sakura." Kakashi whispered.

To be sure, he held the headband to his nose and sniffed, yes it was hers. Blood. He turned the headband over. Written in blood on the back was a date. Todays month and day...but the year ...was ten years ago.

Yamato and Sai , who had been looking over Kakashi's shoulder looked at one another.

"What does this mean Kakashi' Yamato asked him

"It means the hag went back in time and tried to leave us this clue." Sai answered for Kakashi.

"That is ridiculous." Yamato scoffed at Sai who looked at him blankly.

"Sai has an uncanny ability to see truths through ruthless logic. I think that is exactly what this means." Kakashi said lifting the headband to his nose, inhaling again.

"How else would it be here, now, the very second it arrived, we all felt her chakra signature. I searched this place top to bottom the first time I was here, this wasn't here."

"But Kakashi, how, how is that possible." Yamato was still doubtful.

"She is clever, very clever Yamato. She has Sasuke's eyes if our hunch is correct. With her natural abilities...remember, we said her potential was limitless." Kakashi broke out into a huge grin.

"What if there are no limits to time and space for her? If there was such a thing, she would be able to find it." His heart lightened.

He didn't know where she was, didn't know if she was alive, but he knew she had sent this for him and she wasn't a traitor. She knew him, she knew what this would mean to him. For now, it was enough. He would work the rest out later. He took a storage scroll from his pouch and sealed her headband in it.

Madara drummed his fingers on his desk as he looked out the window of his suite at the top of his tower. Itachi was a puzzle to him and he didn't know quite how to deal with him. It was true, he Madara Uchiha, was stronger than Itachi but the strongest warrior doesn't always win the war. A weaker warrior can overcome a much stronger opponent with genius.

Itachi was a genius , and so was that woman of his, Sakura. She was innocent, and a little naive but he could see both strength and ruthless intelligence in her.

He smiled to himself. Yes, Itachi's "Wife" was a very interesting woman and he intended to get to know her better. His genjutsu was flawless, only Itachi had ever seen through it, seen Madara instead of Obito, or the childish persona he portrayed for his own amusement at times. Unfortunately for Itachi, he was a genius too.

Yes, Itachi was strong and clever but most of all , he was very humble. It is hard to control someone who doesn't have a vice and it had annoyed him to no end for a very long time.

Madara grinned a devilishly handsome grin, but now, he had a vice. His "wife", and Madara was going to enjoy exploiting that weakness to its full extent.

They were out training her new abilities right now. Discovering her new talents and practicing them. Itachi had put up a strong protection seal around their training area, apparently he didn't want him to see.

He knew the protection seals were for him, who else would they be for, no one else presented half a challenge to the present heir of the Uchiha clan.

His fingers stilled on his desk, he could see them walking back to their tower across from his own. The woman looked tired. Itachi was grinning? Interesting. Madara wondered what abilities she had possibly discovered or mastered on their training expedition. He had never seen Itachi so happy before, he was admittedly...jealous.

Perhaps he would pay her a visit later, disguised as Tobi? No, she was too smart, he had messed that up already. He hadn't meant to switch personalities in front of her so soon but he just couldn't resist her. Another piece to add to the growing puzzle that was this woman. This Sakura, a puzzle he wanted desperately to solve.


	23. Chapter 23

Sakura and Itachi climbed the stairs to the second floor of their tower when they were met by a man who strongly resembled a shark.

"Itachi, we have a mission, just a quick run, should be back tomorrow morning at the latest." Kisame said as he looked at Sakura.

"Leader Sama said you are training the newest member and didn't want you gone long." he added.

"We leave immediately I assume?" Itachi said.

"Yeah, I'll just wait right here." Kisame said, grinning at Sakura.

"This is Haruno Sakura she was a Leaf nin." Itachi told Kisame.

"Nice to meet you princess." Kisame smiled with lots of teeth at her. "I'm Kisame, this guy's partner."

"Ice to meet you Kisame San, good luck on your short mission." Sakura nodded to him.

"I'll walk you to your room." Itachi took her by the arm and called over his shoulder, "I will only be a moment."

Kisame grinned after them shaking his head.

"It must be an assasination. It won't take long, I'll be right back. Do not wander out of the village on your own. Stay in your room or the kitchen and common room if you can. Don't go anywhere with Tobi, he is not to be trusted or underestimated. I will see you soon." Itachi hugged her and kissed her quickly. He hesitated at her door momentarily, turned and looked at her one more time. She smiled and he walked out the door down the stairs where Kisame was waiting for him. The sooner he left the sooner he could get back to her.

-Our first night here and he won't even be with us, what the hell-

Sakura shut the door to her room and went to the bathroom to draw herself a bath. She had shopping in the village tomorrow with Konan but nothing else planned. Itachi didn't tell her to train and she wasn't sure if she should without him there to guide her. What if something went wrong, it wasn't worth the risk. Besides, she told herself, he had told her to stay close to the tower and village, she could wait till he got back.

After stacking the wood under the bath she started the fire and waited for the water to heat. While she waited she stripped off her clothes, they were all sweaty from training. She would wash them in the tub when she was done with her bath. She was humming to herself when she heard the knock at her door.

Thinking it was Itachi she wrapped herself in a towel quickly to get the door for him. Her smile faded when she opened the door to find not Itachi but a tall man with spiky long jet black hair running down his back in a black long sleeved tee and black nin pants. He looked familiar but she knew she had never met this man before. She also knew...he was dangerously powerful. Chakra seeped from him like honey from a comb. She closed her eyes as it washed over her, tantalizing her. A gasp left her as she realized she had just closed her eyes in the face of an unknown.

"May I help you?" She asked him a little more bluntly than she normally would have, btu he had unnerved her a bit.

"Good evening my dear." He said in a low purring voice and she immediately backed up and away from him. He walked into her room and shut her door...and locked it.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the gesture.

"Tobi kun? Or is it...Uchiha Madara?" That's it, she had recognized him from the statue in The Valley of the End. She continued to look at him through narrowed eyes, as she sent small waves of chakra to her body healing her bruises and sore muscles, preparing them for a fight if need be.

A deep gravelly laugh took her by surprise when he noticed what she had just done. "Recognized me did you?"

"I am not here to fight with you my lovely. I just wish to speak to you." Madara sat down on a chair by her bed without invitation.

"What do you wish to speak to me about, and how are you alive, if you are the real Madara, you should be dead and decaying if not dust by now." She retorted.

A devious smirk played over his face as he looked her over in her bath towel.

"Yes, a fascinating story I assure you but I am more interested in you and any new abilities you may have discovered while training with Itachi today hum?" His eyes lowered to the hem of the towel and her bare legs.

"Unfortunately, it does not seem as though I have a good grasp of my new skills, perhaps it is because I am not a blood Uchiha." She said standing tall, or as tall as one can in a towel in front of a man who had already accosted her once, was supposed to be dead and a founder of her former village, not to mention the greatest Uchiha in history.

"You are not an Uchiha at all. I have performed no wedding ceremonies and you have yet to find your way into my bed." Hi eyes dragged up from her bare legs to her face, still smirking.

"Irregardless, I have yet to discover any new abilities aside from the ones the eyes came with." She walked to the door, "If you will excuse me please, I was about to take a bath." She opened the door for him to leave but he didn't move.

"Perhaps you are in need of a more...experienced partner to give your body the stimulation required to get you to ...open up?" Madara started walking to the door, to her.

"Itachi will train me in all I need to know. I see no reason for you to waste your time on something so trivial." She spoke with her head high she was not going to let him intimidate her.

-Wasn't Madara Uchiha taller and better looking?-

"You are anything but trivial my dear. Tell me what Sasuke was to you that Itachi would give you his eyes?" He leaned into her, his breath on her brow, warm and close...too close, as he shut the door she had opened for him, locking it again.

She backed up against the door to get away from him but was caught up short. He moved slightly and pressed his body against hers.

Sakura had raised her hands up to keep his body from making contact with hers but he was strong and her hands were trapped against his chest pressing back into hers, the tension of their bodies the only thing keeping her towel in place. Could she bring herself to use chakra infused fists against Madara Uchiha, was it wise...

-Ok, he is pretty tall and not bad looking-

"What is your interest in me, you don't know me, is it my association to Itachi, you seem to know alot about our relationship. I am nothing special, I am not beautiful, nor a genius, I lack extraordinary talent. I have nothing you could want. I only have Sasuke's eyes."

" Is that what you are after? There could be nothing else." She did not like being pinned against the back of the door but if he really was Madara Uchiha, what chance did she have, he had already shown her how fast he was earlier and she could feel his insanely powerful chakra rolling off of him, he wasn't hiding it from her.

"Are you humble like Itachi or do you really not see your own prowess or abilities? I have read your file, the Akatsuki have been keeping track of you for some time now. Have you hidden from the world so long that you do not know the extent of your own worth, does he not worship your body everyday and tell you how rare a jewel you are every night?" Madara ran a finger over the top of the sliding towel grazing the tops of her breasts as he did so.

"Pity. Such beauty, hiding such skill and such...ruthlessness." He ripped the towel away from her, lifted her legs and slammed her back up against the door again leaning into her kissing her hard.

"I hear you took out a whole village by yourself, punched hole after hole through their chests. An angel covered in blood." He licked her ear as he spoke the words in his low penetrating voice.

"You who has a chakra reserve that rivals the Nine tails, who mastered jutsu before the age of ten that was created by the second Hokage, a genjutsu master before you had Sasuke's sharingan." He bit her neck dragging his teeth down the side to her bare shoulder.

She shivered in his arms.

"I know you. I know you better than you know yourself. You try to maintain control, I say lose control, and live up to your full potential, stop wasting your time, and be who you have always wanted to be, who you know you truly are." He released her legs and let her slide down the wall to stand before him.

"I would lay the world at your feet and crown you Queen, if you would let me." He took her face in his hands and kissed her, forcing his tongue past her lips, tilting her head up to his, forcefully moving his body against hers rocking into her sending waves of heat over her naked body, and then he was gone.

-That was fucking hot-

Shut it, she thought to herself.

Kakashi sat beside Sasuke's hospital bed thumbing the fabric of Sakura's headband they had found in the cabin. Was she still here, or had she gone already? He needed more information. She knew him, she knew him well. She knew he would find the cabin, that he would track her scent. He hadn't been lying when he said they were practically the same person, they had a lot in common. She would need another sign, more proof her hunch was correct...so did he. She would send him another sign , he knew it. He knew her.

Sasuke's chakra spiked. Kakashi tucked the headband in his pack and stood up looking worriedly over the boy, the man, he corrected himself. Was he finally waking up? A machine to the right started a long drawn out whine. Oh shit, thought Kakashi wasn't that a bad noise?

Nurses and a doctor rushed into the room pushing him out, telling him to go wait in the waiting room and then ignoring him as they wheeled Sasuke out of his room down the hall to the emergency operating room. Shit.

Deidara hummed as he walked down the stairs to Sakura's room. She had been training most of the day with Itachi so he had left her alone and gone to his own room when he was struck with inspiration.

He carried the results of his effort and creativity in his hand excited to show her his art. She loved his art and he couldn't wait to give it to her. He knocked on her door and whistled a little waiting for her to open it.

The door opened not long after he had knocked and she stood aside welcoming him in.

"Hey Deidara, how ya doing?" She smiled at him smelling strongly of water and flowers.

"Good and you hey?" He smiled at her. He was so glad she was here with them, part of the Akatsuki.

"I'm good." She looked to his hand where he was fidgeting with her gift. "What's that?"

"It's for you yeah." He holds it up for her to see it better. He grins as the smile explodes across her face, that's what he had been waiting for, that's what he wanted to see.

"It's me! You made another me? Oh I have my katana and am attacking something!" She squealed in delight. He was so cool.

-You think that is exciting? After Madara's visit? This lump of dirt excites you?-

Her smile left her.

"You okay Kura?" Deidara looked at her. "You stopped smile suddenly."

Did she not like it as much as he thought she would, was there something wrong with his art? Deidara frowned as he looked the little figurine over.

-Oh pet names now is it? Think we're that close do you?-

"Oh, I'm sorry, I love it Deidara, is it for me? Do I get to keep it?" She smiled at him apologetically.

"Of course it is for you hey, you are my muse yeah." She had the little figure in hand and was walking to the window desk. She placed the new Sakura figurine, her katana held in a fighting stance, next to her other Sakura figurine and larger bird.

"Look." She pointed the the picture he had drawn her, of her reading by the lake, it was framed in a dark grey and silver frame hanging on the wall by her bed.

"I have my own little Deidara art gallery." She laughed and smiled at him. "Thanks so much I love your art."

"I will keep making you things as they come to me, but right now I'm hungry, wanna go get something to eat hey?" He asked her.

"Sure, let me just put on a different shirt, I just got out of the bath." She grabbed a shirt off the bed and went to change in the bathroom.

When she came out he was looking out her window. "You don't have any drapes, anyone can look in on you. That's not good hey."

"I can just put up a genjutsu for the night, let's go I'm starving." She laughed and they left her room together.

Deidara took one last glance at her window then followed her out her door.

Tsunade came out of the operating room hours later to find a very frazzled Kakashi harassing the nurses for an update on Sasuke. She grabbed him by the collar and half lifted , half dragged him into her office where she threw him into a chair, got out two small cups and a very large bottle of sake.

She poured for them both and threw hers back. When he only sat there she nudged the cup toward him and he drank it. She poured for them again and took hers in her hands sitting back in her chair.

"I have news but you might not take it well." Tsunade says.

Kakashi's head drops to his chest and he takes in several gulps of air quickly.

"No, not that, Sasuke is going to be fine , it is what I found when I was looking at his eyes. I got his chakra stabilized, that is what set off the monitor. Once I had taken care of that though I decided to take advantage of the drugs he is on to look at his eyes again and found something that wasn't there before. When I unwrapped his eye sockets...he had eyes." She paused here unsure how to proceed.

Kakashi's head jerked up, "What?"

"I found chakra, healing chakra in his eye sockets, that wasn't there before and it isn't mine." She said looking at him.

He held his breath.

"It was Sakura's." Tsunade said as if she couldn't believe it herself.

"You're sure her healing chakra wasn't there before when you checked him?" Kakashi asked her.

"I'm sure. One more thing Kakashi. His eyes, he has...Fugaku's. His father's eyes." Tsunade took and poured another drink.

"Fugaku died years ago, Itachi killed him in the massacre." Kakashi said.

Tsunade nodded her head in agreement then shook it in disbelief.

"Four years ago, his eyes, they were buried with his body?" Kakashi asked her.

"Fugaku, because of who he was, because of the Mangekyo his eyes held...his eyes, his whole body was burned." Tsunade said quietly.

"But." Kakashi protested.

"I know!" She paused again. "I can't explain it, can you?"

Kakashi didn't say anything but he did take another drink. It wasn't peppermint gin but it would have to do.

"Got any theories? Cause I don't." She said.

Kakashi sat still for a moment letting this sink in. He played the events over the last few days in his head. He sighed, yeah, it had to be it.

"I only have one theory." He reached into his pouch and pulled Sakura's headband out and handed it to Tsunade.

"Don't touch the back, there is dried blood on it, it is important." He waves his hand to the headband.

"This is." She flips it over and looks at the date." You're fucking with me."

"I asure you Lady Tsunade, I am not fucking with you." Kakashi takes another shot and fills both of their cups again.

"This is old and rusted, weathered, it must be at least," She stutters.

"Yeah, ten years old or so." Kakashi confirmed her thoughts with his own.

"You think she went back in time?" Tsunade asked him eyes wide and mouth hung open.

"She has his Mangekyo, and perfect chakra control, you know her as well as I do, she could do it if she puts her mind to it, if it was possible, she could do it."


	24. Chapter 24

Itachi and Sakura had worked on her Kotoamatsukami for a few hours. She found that it was far easier than the Kamui which greatly surprised Itachi but was a blessing because that meant she could use it much more frequently. In fact, she had made Itachi sing her favorite song three times in a row, only having to wait ten minutes in between for it to reset.

They practiced her Kamui four or five times, the distance increasing each time she practiced and each time she was able to take and call forth larger and larger objects as well as quantities.

Before Itachi decided they should take a rest for the day he asked her to try to bring forth another tome but she couldn't. She was unable to find any other than the ones she had practiced with.

Itachi thought it may have something to do with choosing the tomes and then releasing the others as cast-off energy but he wasn't sure.

If this was the case, he was very glad she had chosen Shisui's Mangekyou. Not only was it useful but it kept Shisui alive for Itachi, like his best friend was still with him, helping him with another one of their plans.

"You look like you are managing your chakra better today and are not as fatigued," Itachi told her.

"I feel better, there isn't as much pressure behind my eyes and I don't have that stressed drained feeling." She smiled at him.

"A few more days and Leader Sama will test your skills. Tomorrow we will go over each one individually, including the Amateretsu and focus on the one that takes the most chakra and effort." He said as they walked back to their tower together.

"I have to admit, I am still not completely used to having a Sharingan. It is hard to wrap my mind around. I wonder if Kakashi felt this way when Obito gave him his one eye." She wondered out loud.

"Do you miss him?" Itachi asked her.

"Kakashi?" She smiled at him.

"Hn."

"Of course I do Itachi, he has been part of my life for a long time." She said truthfully.

"Not as long as me." He huffed.

-Did Uchiha Itachi just huff? Sounds like spoiled brat Sasuke-

"I knew you most of my life as a Crow Itachi. I didn't think of you as a man. I might want to remind you, until recently I had always thought you were a crow." She shook her head a bit. "Sometimes I still can't believe it, everything has happened so fast."

"He loves you," Itachi told her.

"You've said." She commented dryly as they walked up the stairs to their tower.

"There was that night remember, when you let him touch you like you, like you…" He couldn't finish his sentence.

"Like I what Itachi?" They were in the little reading nook by her room now and she glared at him.

"Like you wanted him to." He said a little more forcefully than he had meant to.

"I was confused and alone, he was...comforting me." She said lowly, measured. "You left remember, you refused me, remember?"

Itachi's face went blank to hide his emotions. He was cutting her out she realized he was closing off to protect himself. She sighed. She was used to this type of behavior from Sasuke but she had hoped to avoid it from Itachi. Particularly now, they were supposed to be married.

"I was protecting you. It was for your own good. It was best we didn't have contact after, uh, I left." He said at last.

"I didn't need protection, I needed you, to know what I felt was real, to know you felt the same. I felt like you had left me again, or did you forget running from my bed and then not talking to me, or visiting me for a year?"

All the stress of the last month came rushing in on her, the pain the confusion. Was he really going to stand there and tell her it was for her own good?

"I follow you here, I accept what you tell me is true, do you have any idea how hard this is for me? I am going against everything I have ever known for you and you ask me if I miss my former sensei and because I answer you with the truth you get mad at me?" Her voice is raised and she is rocking back and forth on her heels.

"Leave off your fighting stance Sakura, I will not tolerate such blatant aggression. I deserve your respect." Itachi looked at her coldly.

-Did he just, yes he did...fucking Uchihas!-

"And I deserve yours. I deserved to know who you were, not just as a Crow. I deserved to know that you had eventually planned on me joining you here and I deserved to know everything you had been planning for our future without me, or my opinion. You never asked me what I wanted." She was furious.

She had never even realized that some of these things had bothered her, but the more she spoke the angrier she got.

"You chose to come here, you chose to be with me, you agreed to my giving you Sasuke's eyes and who would turn down such an immeasurable gift anyway." He scoffed…..like when he was a Crow and it infuriated her.

It reminded her how he had lied to her and kept secrets from her for years.

She stepped forward to slap him but he caught her hand and threw it back at her.

"Don't ever do that again." He glared at her.

-oh yeah?-

Her fist glowed green with chakra and she lunged for him. He ducked and twisted moving out of reach.

"Sakura calm down, you're being irrational." Itachi scolded her.

-Wow, he really knows how to calm a woman down-

"I am not being irrational, I am upset, it's called an emotion!" She was yelling now.

"When I was younger I wanted to tell people, I was sick of hiding my abilities, my talent, but you said, I mean a Crow told me not to, that they would use me, corrupt me, is that not what you are doing now? Using me, for something you won't even tell me what it is? Am I not now corrupted, I am a missing-nin now!" Her face was red and tears were forming at the corners of her eyes.

"You think I am using you, that I stole you from Konoha, you think so little of me? I release you. You are free of our bond. Leave if you wish." He balled up his fists to his side and walked away.

-well, you wanted him to be emotional-

Sakura stood there till she heard his door close. Slowly, she turned around to see Deidara watching her nervously.

"Kura? I felt his chakra spike and then I heard you yelling at one another, are you ok?" Deidara came over to her.

She didn't respond at first. She stood there. Then she broke, tears streamed down her face wetting her hair that had come down while training.

She tried to push the hair from her eyes but her hand shook. She looked at her hands bemused, why were they shaking, oh yeah. Itachi.

Deidara tried to help her but her legs wouldn't work so he picked her up. He started heading for her room when she found her voice.

"No, please, not there. In case, in case he comes back." She gripped his shirt with her hands trying to steady her breathing.

-are you really falling apart over a man?-

"My room then, we will go to my room, it's a little messy yeah but it is decent." And he carried her upstairs.

Madara felt the pulse of chakra from his tower. Itachi. Then he felt it explode. He went to his window, no one was in Sakura's room. He leaped from his tower to the other jumping from ledge to ledge until he reached the stairs on the third floor. He hid around the corner in a well placed alcove and watched Itachi and Sakura argue, he didn't make all of it out but he did hear him release her of their bond and telling her she could leave if she wanted. No, that wouldn't do. Itachi was a fool, he could release her but she wasn't leaving, not if he had anything to say about it...and he did.

Itachi had left her and gone to his own room, she was alone and needed someone to comfort her. She needed him. Madara was just about to step out from his hiding place when the blonde bomber ran out of his room on the 4th floor and bumbled down the steps to drop at her side. Hum, maybe later. Madara walked up the steps and jumped out the window back to his tower.

Itachi leaned against the back of his bedroom door. What had he done? He had lost control. The things she had said to him. Did she have any idea what he went through for her, how all this planning was for her, did she not know how much he adored and loved her?

He knew they would eventually have some sort of an argument, all couples did but he had never been a couple before. This was his first relationship. So he did the only thing he had known, control the situation. He had talked to her like his father had talked to his mother. He immediately realized his mistake, the fire in her eyes roared to life, she was so beautiful when she was angry but, that fire had never been directed at him before.

Everything he said was the wrong thing to say. When she said that she thought he was using her, that he was just like the people he had warned her about, he snapped. It was those people, they were the reason he didn't have a family anymore, they were the reason he was hated by his little brother, why people called him a "clan killer", and she had told him he was just like them. She didn't know of course what that statement would mean to him but….she thought it.

Everything he had ever done was to keep her and his little brother safe. He loved them both and he was showing them in the best way he knew how but it wasn't enough. He pushed off the door and stumbled to his bed to lay down.

"Sakura, my wife. I'm sorry." He was a terrible husband.

Deidara set Sakura on his couch after shoving several articles of clothing to the floor. He handed her the remote to the TV and went to go make them some tea from the kitchen.

When he got back she had the TV on and was watching a documentary about poisons from around the world. He handed her a cup of tea and sat down beside her.

"Thanks, Deidara." She tried to smile at him.

"No problem Kura." He smiled at her. "You wanna talk about what just happened?"

She shook her head.

"Did the bastard hurt you?" Deidara was looking her over for damage.

"No." She tried to smile she really did.

"We don't have to talk, it is ok, just watch TV together?" He put his arm around her and moved closer to her giving her a bit of friendly comfort.

"Yeah, do you like poisons?" She asked him.

"No way man, only art yeah!" He one shoulder hugged her and turned to face the TV with her.

It was nice. It felt like she was home again almost with Sasuke and Kakashi. Naruto. He had been gone a long time. What made him lose control, what had happened to him.

Sasuke, oh Sasuke. She started to cry again.

Deidara hugged her closer and snuggled up beside her taking her into his arms and lifting her onto his lap.

"I promise I won't try anything, but sometimes cuddling makes you feel better. Comfort yeah?" He smiled at her.

"Yeah." She said gratefully putting her arms around his neck and hiding her face in the collar of his shirt and cried as he held her.

"Thanks for being my friend Dei." She said into his collar.

"I'm here yeah," he said and continued to hug her.

She closed her eyes and relaxed against him.

He sat there holding her, her hair in his face, her smell surrounding him. He told her he would be a perfect gentleman and he would be but damn did she look hot. The kimono fit her form in a most pleasing way. It was tight but it wasn't. It showed off her beautiful legs but wasn't too revealing. She looked like a lady but also very sexy, like a nymph.

It was too much. He had to do something. I had given her his word he would behave.

"Sakura." He called her name gently." Hey Kura, wake up hun." He kissed her fuzzy pink head. "Come on Kura, wake up."

She made an inquisitive noise in her throat.

Her eyes fluttered open. It was late afternoon but maybe she ought to sleep. He stood with her in his arms and made his way back to her room. He set her on her bed and covered her with her comforter so she would be warm. With a kiss to the forehead he left, closing the door quietly behind him.

Deidara stood outside her door thinking for a moment. He would tell Itachi she was sleeping so he wouldn't wake her up. He couldn't stop the man but he could tell him not to bother her because she needed rest.

Deidara walked across the hall and knocked on Itachi's door. He waited a moment but no one answered. He knocked again. Nothing, Deidara went back to his room, he would check on Sakura later, maybe bring her dinner.

He had sat in his room for ten more minutes going stir crazy so he got off his bed and decided to go for a walk. As he walked he thought about their agreement and their training. He focused on their training session because he could actually do something about that where as he had no idea what to do about their fight.

Itachi closed his eyes and felt the air with his chakra...she was in her room now, good. He turned in the direction Konoha lay. He could feel a team of Anbu Konoha nin moving around the area, a recon team?

Itachi was torn. She had claimed he had abandoned her. If he left would she think he was abandoning her again? He had released her of their bond, would she know he had only said it in anger?

Everything he did, he did it for her. She would eventually understand. He would just see where they were and come back to her. He exploded in black feathers and flew into the sky.

Madara could feel Itachi moving farther and farther away from Rain. Fool, he thought. Itachi was indeed talented for a side branch of the family but he was still a fool. Madara turned from where he had been standing by his window watching Sakura sleep, walked out his door and made his way over to her tower.

Deidara's protection jutsu was worthless. The boy didn't know a seal from the sticker you get in a cereal box. Madara pushed Sakura's door open and closed it behind him.

He sealed the door with a proper jutsu this time. No one was getting in or out. He went to the window making several intricate hand signs and pressed his hands against the glass, for a moment it turned to liquid metal, shimmered and resumed its normal appearance.

Madara scoffed at the little clay figures on her desk. The bomber was quite taken with her wasn't he, a silly little crush, nothing real, she needed a man not a boy. He walked over to her bed and looked her over while she slept. The late afternoon sun shone through the large windowed wall making her skin glow.

She was stunning in her new kunoichi kimono, the dark colors suited her with her petal pink hair, it just needed an Uchiha fan on the back and it would be perfect. He would be sure to get her more when she had accepted him, he would give her everything. He sat down in the dressing chair by her bed, he wasn't in a hurry, he wanted to take his time with her, he had to do this right, he wanted her to want him.


	25. Chapter 25

Itachi and Sakura had worked on her Kotoamatsukami for a few hours. She found that it was far easier than the Kamui which greatly surprised Itachi but was a blessing because that meant she could use it much more frequently. In fact, she had made Itachi sing her favorite song three times in a row, only having to wait ten minutes in between for it to reset.

They practiced her Kamui four or five times, the distance increasing each time she practiced and each time she was able to take and call forth larger and larger objects as well as quantities.

Before Itachi decided they should take a rest for the day he asked her to try to bring forth another tome but she couldn't. She was unable to find any other than the ones she had practiced with.

Itachi thought it may have something to do with choosing the tomes and then releasing the others as cast-off energy but he wasn't sure.

If this was the case, he was very glad she had chosen Shisui's Mangekyou. Not only was it useful but it kept Shisui alive for Itachi, like his best friend was still with him, helping him with another one of their plans.

"You look like you are managing your chakra better today and are not as fatigued," Itachi told her.

"I feel better, there isn't as much pressure behind my eyes and I don't have that stressed drained feeling." She smiled at him.

"A few more days and Leader Sama will test your skills. Tomorrow we will go over each one individually, including the Amateretsu and focus on the one that takes the most chakra and effort." He said as they walked back to their tower together.

"I have to admit, I am still not completely used to having a Sharingan. It is hard to wrap my mind around. I wonder if Kakashi felt this way when Obito gave him his one eye." She wondered out loud.

"Do you miss him?" Itachi asked her.

"Kakashi?" She smiled at him.

"Hn."

"Of course I do Itachi, he has been part of my life for a long time." She said truthfully.

"Not as long as me." He huffed.

-Did Uchiha Itachi just huff? Sounds like spoiled brat Sasuke-

"I knew you most of my life as a Crow Itachi. I didn't think of you as a man. I might want to remind you, until recently I had always thought you were a crow." She shook her head a bit. "Sometimes I still can't believe it, everything has happened so fast."

"He loves you," Itachi told her.

"You've said." She commented dryly as they walked up the stairs to their tower.

"There was that night remember, when you let him touch you like you, like you…" He couldn't finish his sentence.

"Like I what Itachi?" They were in the little reading nook by her room now and she glared at him.

"Like you wanted him to." He said a little more forcefully than he had meant to.

"I was confused and alone, he was...comforting me." She said lowly, measured. "You left remember, you refused me, remember?"

Itachi's face went blank to hide his emotions. He was cutting her out she realized he was closing off to protect himself. She sighed. She was used to this type of behavior from Sasuke but she had hoped to avoid it from Itachi. Particularly now, they were supposed to be married.

"I was protecting you. It was for your own good. It was best we didn't have contact after, uh, I left." He said at last.

"I didn't need protection, I needed you, to know what I felt was real, to know you felt the same. I felt like you had left me again, or did you forget running from my bed and then not talking to me, or visiting me for a year?"

All the stress of the last month came rushing in on her, the pain the confusion. Was he really going to stand there and tell her it was for her own good?

"I follow you here, I accept what you tell me is true, do you have any idea how hard this is for me? I am going against everything I have ever known for you and you ask me if I miss my former sensei and because I answer you with the truth you get mad at me?" Her voice is raised and she is rocking back and forth on her heels.

"Leave off your fighting stance Sakura, I will not tolerate such blatant aggression. I deserve your respect." Itachi looked at her coldly.

-Did he just, yes he did...fucking Uchihas!-

"And I deserve yours. I deserved to know who you were, not just as a Crow. I deserved to know that you had eventually planned on me joining you here and I deserved to know everything you had been planning for our future without me, or my opinion. You never asked me what I wanted." She was furious.

She had never even realized that some of these things had bothered her, but the more she spoke the angrier she got.

"You chose to come here, you chose to be with me, you agreed to my giving you Sasuke's eyes and who would turn down such an immeasurable gift anyway." He scoffed…..like when he was a Crow and it infuriated her.

It reminded her how he had lied to her and kept secrets from her for years.

She stepped forward to slap him but he caught her hand and threw it back at her.

"Don't ever do that again." He glared at her.

-oh yeah?-

Her fist glowed green with chakra and she lunged for him. He ducked and twisted moving out of reach.

"Sakura calm down, you're being irrational." Itachi scolded her.

-Wow, he really knows how to calm a woman down-

"I am not being irrational, I am upset, it's called an emotion!" She was yelling now.

"When I was younger I wanted to tell people, I was sick of hiding my abilities, my talent, but you said, I mean a Crow told me not to, that they would use me, corrupt me, is that not what you are doing now? Using me, for something you won't even tell me what it is? Am I not now corrupted, I am a missing-nin now!" Her face was red and tears were forming at the corners of her eyes.

"You think I am using you, that I stole you from Konoha, you think so little of me? I release you. You are free of our bond. Leave if you wish." He balled up his fists to his side and walked away.

-well, you wanted him to be emotional-

Sakura stood there till she heard his door close. Slowly, she turned around to see Deidara watching her nervously.

"Kura? I felt his chakra spike and then I heard you yelling at one another, are you ok?" Deidara came over to her.

She didn't respond at first. She stood there. Then she broke, tears streamed down her face wetting her hair that had come down while training.

She tried to push the hair from her eyes but her hand shook. She looked at her hands bemused, why were they shaking, oh yeah. Itachi.

Deidara tried to help her but her legs wouldn't work so he picked her up. He started heading for her room when she found her voice.

"No, please, not there. In case, in case he comes back." She gripped his shirt with her hands trying to steady her breathing.

-are you really falling apart over a man?-

"My room then, we will go to my room, it's a little messy yeah but it is decent." And he carried her upstairs.

Madara felt the pulse of chakra from his tower. Itachi. Then he felt it explode. He went to his window, no one was in Sakura's room. He leaped from his tower to the other jumping from ledge to ledge until he reached the stairs on the third floor. He hid around the corner in a well placed alcove and watched Itachi and Sakura argue, he didn't make all of it out but he did hear him release her of their bond and telling her she could leave if she wanted. No, that wouldn't do. Itachi was a fool, he could release her but she wasn't leaving, not if he had anything to say about it...and he did.

Itachi had left her and gone to his own room, she was alone and needed someone to comfort her. She needed him. Madara was just about to step out from his hiding place when the blonde bomber ran out of his room on the 4th floor and bumbled down the steps to drop at her side. Hum, maybe later. Madara walked up the steps and jumped out the window back to his tower.

Itachi leaned against the back of his bedroom door. What had he done? He had lost control. The things she had said to him. Did she have any idea what he went through for her, how all this planning was for her, did she not know how much he adored and loved her?

He knew they would eventually have some sort of an argument, all couples did but he had never been a couple before. This was his first relationship. So he did the only thing he had known, control the situation. He had talked to her like his father had talked to his mother. He immediately realized his mistake, the fire in her eyes roared to life, she was so beautiful when she was angry but, that fire had never been directed at him before.

Everything he said was the wrong thing to say. When she said that she thought he was using her, that he was just like the people he had warned her about, he snapped. It was those people, they were the reason he didn't have a family anymore, they were the reason he was hated by his little brother, why people called him a "clan killer", and she had told him he was just like them. She didn't know of course what that statement would mean to him but….she thought it.

Everything he had ever done was to keep her and his little brother safe. He loved them both and he was showing them in the best way he knew how but it wasn't enough. He pushed off the door and stumbled to his bed to lay down.

"Sakura, my wife. I'm sorry." He was a terrible husband.

Deidara set Sakura on his couch after shoving several articles of clothing to the floor. He handed her the remote to the TV and went to go make them some tea from the kitchen.

When he got back she had the TV on and was watching a documentary about poisons from around the world. He handed her a cup of tea and sat down beside her.

"Thanks, Deidara." She tried to smile at him.

"No problem Kura." He smiled at her. "You wanna talk about what just happened?"

She shook her head.

"Did the bastard hurt you?" Deidara was looking her over for damage.

"No." She tried to smile she really did.

"We don't have to talk, it is ok, just watch TV together?" He put his arm around her and moved closer to her giving her a bit of friendly comfort.

"Yeah, do you like poisons?" She asked him.

"No way man, only art yeah!" He one shoulder hugged her and turned to face the TV with her.

It was nice. It felt like she was home again almost with Sasuke and Kakashi. Naruto. He had been gone a long time. What made him lose control, what had happened to him.

Sasuke, oh Sasuke. She started to cry again.

Deidara hugged her closer and snuggled up beside her taking her into his arms and lifting her onto his lap.

"I promise I won't try anything, but sometimes cuddling makes you feel better. Comfort yeah?" He smiled at her.

"Yeah." She said gratefully putting her arms around his neck and hiding her face in the collar of his shirt and cried as he held her.

"Thanks for being my friend Dei." She said into his collar.

"I'm here yeah," he said and continued to hug her.

She closed her eyes and relaxed against him.

He sat there holding her, her hair in his face, her smell surrounding him. He told her he would be a perfect gentleman and he would be but damn did she look hot. The kimono fit her form in a most pleasing way. It was tight but it wasn't. It showed off her beautiful legs but wasn't too revealing. She looked like a lady but also very sexy, like a nymph.

It was too much. He had to do something. I had given her his word he would behave.

"Sakura." He called her name gently." Hey Kura, wake up hun." He kissed her fuzzy pink head. "Come on Kura, wake up."

She made an inquisitive noise in her throat.

Her eyes fluttered open. It was late afternoon but maybe she ought to sleep. He stood with her in his arms and made his way back to her room. He set her on her bed and covered her with her comforter so she would be warm. With a kiss to the forehead he left, closing the door quietly behind him.

Deidara stood outside her door thinking for a moment. He would tell Itachi she was sleeping so he wouldn't wake her up. He couldn't stop the man but he could tell him not to bother her because she needed rest.

Deidara walked across the hall and knocked on Itachi's door. He waited a moment but no one answered. He knocked again. Nothing, Deidara went back to his room, he would check on Sakura later, maybe bring her dinner.

He had sat in his room for ten more minutes going stir crazy so he got off his bed and decided to go for a walk. As he walked he thought about their agreement and their training. He focused on their training session because he could actually do something about that where as he had no idea what to do about their fight.

Itachi closed his eyes and felt the air with his chakra...she was in her room now, good. He turned in the direction Konoha lay. He could feel a team of Anbu Konoha nin moving around the area, a recon team?

Itachi was torn. She had claimed he had abandoned her. If he left would she think he was abandoning her again? He had released her of their bond, would she know he had only said it in anger?

Everything he did, he did it for her. She would eventually understand. He would just see where they were and come back to her. He exploded in black feathers and flew into the sky.

Madara could feel Itachi moving farther and farther away from Rain. Fool, he thought. Itachi was indeed talented for a side branch of the family but he was still a fool. Madara turned from where he had been standing by his window watching Sakura sleep, walked out his door and made his way over to her tower.

Deidara's protection jutsu was worthless. The boy didn't know a seal from the sticker you get in a cereal box. Madara pushed Sakura's door open and closed it behind him.

He sealed the door with a proper jutsu this time. No one was getting in or out. He went to the window making several intricate hand signs and pressed his hands against the glass, for a moment it turned to liquid metal, shimmered and resumed its normal appearance.

Madara scoffed at the little clay figures on her desk. The bomber was quite taken with her wasn't he, a silly little crush, nothing real, she needed a man not a boy. He walked over to her bed and looked her over while she slept. The late afternoon sun shone through the large windowed wall making her skin glow.

She was stunning in her new kunoichi kimono, the dark colors suited her with her petal pink hair, it just needed an Uchiha fan on the back and it would be perfect. He would be sure to get her more when she had accepted him, he would give her everything. He sat down in the dressing chair by her bed, he wasn't in a hurry, he wanted to take his time with her, he had to do this right, he wanted her to want him.


	26. Chapter 26

Like most Uchiha Madara was very careful not to reveal the abilities of his Mangekyo Sharingan. Most of his clan had known he possessed the ability to control the Nine Tailed Fox and could call upon a Susanoo but no one knew of his other ability that required mastering to use Susanoo. His secondary ability was the ability to control the tailed beasts but his primary ability was to influence and manipulate dreams, Yume O Seigyon Suru.

Madara didn't have to be in the same room as Sakura to use this ability on her but he wanted to watch her, hear her, smell her while he manipulated her dreams. With this ability, he had full control over the five senses, the targets thoughts, feelings and actions in their dreams. No physical contact was necessary to initiate the process only his chakra.

Sakura was restless in her sleep, like she had been the night before. He reached out with his chakra to calm her nerves by starting the dream off in the forest, on the outskirts of Konoha. A place that must be familiar to her and that he knew well. He envisioned for her soft green grass on the forest floor, she was barefoot walking slowly enjoying the smell of the trees a basket of flowers in her hand.

He made the trees taller, wider and more beautiful than reality. The birds sang sweeter and softer as they flew through the forest. He guided her movements by taking her to the edge of the forest where he knew there to be a waterfall. Her kimono was loose and flowed in the breeze coming off of the falling water as sprinkles of mist and water drops tickled her nose.

Beside her bed he heard the sleeping Sakura sigh and relax. He got up from the chair and laid down next to her on her bed. Resting his head against the palm of his hand he lay sideways propped up with his arm so he could watch her reaction to the dream he was weaving for her. He closed his eyes and walked her back to the edge of the waterfall, allowing her to add to the dream fascinated with her vivid imagination. He lay back in her mind and let her thoughts flow into one another.

There were a few rocks in the pool under the waterfall and Sakura wanted to get to them. She had always wanted to sit on the rocks and feel the mist and the water flow over her body. Setting her basket of flowers down by the bank she judge the distance and lept. Her foot touched down on the rock but before she could bring her other foot around to land she slipped backward.

A hand shot out and grabbed her hand, another snaked around her waist and strong arms brought her up against a strong male chest. She squeaked in surprise looking up into the dark coal eyes of the handsomest man she had ever seen. His long spiky hair floated down his back, his arms wrapped around her holding her in place kept her from falling The way he looked down at her with those dark eyes and the sensual smile that graced his lips, made her blush.

Madara. It was Madara Uchiha. "Let go of me asshole." Sakura started to push him away from her but stopped as he bent down and kissed her.

She stopped moving, it felt nice, good even. Slowly she started kissing him back, his arms tightened around her, lifting her up , he jumped from the rock back to the bank and set her on her feet.

"Why would you do that when you know those rocks would be slippery" Madara scolded her.

"I always wanted to sit on that rock and have the water roll over me, it sounded nicer in my head, so… I thought I would finally try it." She smiled mischievously at him.

-The little minx Madara thought to himself and smiled as the dream continued to play out before him.-

"There are other fantasies you can play out by a waterfall that won't get you killed or drown you." Madara pointed out to her.

"Aren't both of those a form of dying though, getting killed and drowning? Not much of a choice there. I'll pass." She laughed at him.

-She is a witty thing, not afraid of me at all-

"Let me show you something", he took her by the hand and tucked it under his arm, she started to pull her arm away…

-Trust me Sakura-

…..and stopped, letting him have it and they walked up to the side of the waterfall. He made a few simple hand signs and the water stopped flowing down the cliff to reveal a small cave mouth. Madara led her inside and lit a torch with his fire bullet jutsu.

He turned back to the mouth of the cave, made the hand signs again and the water resumed it's flow. He took the torch in one hand and took Sakura's hand with the other and led further into the cave, lighting torches here and there as they went.

"Where are we?" She asked in a hushed voice because it was quiet and a bit eerie.

"This is a hidden cave that Hashirama and I used to meet at when we were kids." Madara told her.

"I want to show you something very special to me." The cave started to widen more and more as they continued on their path.

"Why would you show me?" Sakura asked. "You hardly know me."

-It is time to form the bonds of trust in her mind so she will trust me in her waking hours as well as in her dreams-

"But we have known one another for many years Sakura, you remember don't you?" He smiled down at her.

She looked up at him with slightly glazed eyes, "No."

-Amazing, she can resist me in the world I have complete control, yes, she is the one, there can be no other, there can be no one but Sakura-

"You have always been there for me as I have for you. We have trusted one another on and off the battlefield with our lives many times." He smiled at her again, as if playfully, as if she ought to know these things.

-you are the only one for me, you trust me as I trust you-

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry Dara, I remember, how silly of me." She blushed looking up into his shining eyes.

-Yes, Dara, call me Dara, you are so beautiful when you blush, blush for me baby-

Madara looked down at her as they walked into a larger room where the cave had naturally expanded and she blushed for him, a deeper shade of pink brightened her cheeks.

-That's my girl, such a good girl-

Sakura ducked her head as if embarrassed but she didn't know why.

"This is what I wanted to show you." He waved his arm out in front of him.

She gasped. "Dara, it's, it's beautiful!"

"You are far more beautiful and rare my dear." he bent his head to her and kissed her, gently and soft then stopped to pull her after him as he walked into the underground forest Hashirama had created many years ago.

Trees as huge as any she had ever seen rose upward into a seemingly endless sky. She could hear rushing water in the distance, a cold sort of echoing noise, lonely and stunning in it's exotic nature. He stopped by a still pool of glowing water and motioned her to sit beside him. He brought her close to him and told her to look into the water.

"Do you see anything Kura?" He asked her.

She looked into the glowing pool of water. It was so still, nothing moved on it's smooth mirror like surface. She looked back at him, "I'm sorry Dara but I don't see anything."

He took a kunai from his person and made a small cut on his forearm and let the blood drip into the water, then he did the same with her forearm.

"Watch the blood Kura darling, watch the blood."

-see our future together, a world that knows true peace. shinobi are a weapon for peace, there will be war, there will be death, but after all the blood has washed away so will all the evils of the world and there will only be you and I left to start anew-

"I see something Dara!" she smiled at him and turned back to the pool. "I see...is that", she gasped," War, I see war Dara."

"Keep looking Kura my love" He moved the small wisps of hair away from her neck and kissed her lightly behind her ear and a bit lower when she, stiffened.

-you like it when I kiss you, you know how much I care for you, enjoy it Kura , my dear-

Sakura relaxed and leaned into him. He smiled his approval and kissed her once more then pulled away to look into the pool with her.

"Do you see the carnage dear, do you see how beautiful you look covered in blood, how they run and scream before us, how they know they deserve to die?" he held her hand as they looked into the pool together.

"A shinobi is a weapon for peace?" she turned to look at him confused.

-it is only through war that peace can be made, we must rid the world of the cancer to heal it again-

"We are the tool that cuts the cancer from this world?" She looks up at him.

-So perfect, you are so perfect-

"Yes my dear, we will bring peace to this world. You and I, together, like we always dreamed." He says.

"This is our dream, it is a good dream. I want to see peace in the world again." She looks at him seriously. "Is this the only way though, can we not find another way to make our dream come true?"

-I have tried many ways many times, this is the only way-

"This is the only way Kura." He looks at her emerald eyes, so bright so trusting, she is starting to trust me. She understands.

"I trust you Dara.' She says.

"I trust you Kura. I can trust no other." He stands up pulling her with him.

"Come, I think you will like this." He moves farther into the forest till they came to a river.

'I know how much you like rivers Sakura. I made this for you." He points to a cabin by a river.

Sakura looks at the cabin by the river. "Itachi."

-NO! NEVER SAY HIS NAME AGAIN!-

She falls to her knees, gasping."I'm sorry ! I'm sorry Dara!" she cries, tears falling from her lashes.

Shit. He hadn't meant to do that to her, this was their place though and Itachi had no place here.

-I'm sorry. You didn't do anything wrong, please stop crying, please do not say his name in my presence from now on love, forget him-

Madara picks her up and carries her to the cabin.

-This cabin has always been ours, just yours and mine, you have not shared a cabin with anyone but me, it is our special place-

"I remember now, I used to come here to train and you would watch me.' She picked up a tea cup and furrowed her brow at it.

"Yes, since you were six, we have been together for a very long time." He took the tea cup from her and put it on the table drawing her to the futon.

"You would always train so hard, you are so dedicated, so loyal. So beautiful and soft." He pulls her down onto the futon next to him.

"I love you Kura. I will never love anyone but you." Madara strokes the side of her neck with a finger, tilting her chin up so he can look into her eyes.

She tilts her head to the side as if considering what he is saying to her. "You love me?' She asks him.

-I love you, and you love me, only me-

"I have only ever loved you, only you Kura." He lays her back onto the futon and kisses her neck, licking her every other kiss.

"You can't love me Dara." She pushes him weakly as if she is unsure if she should be pushing him or not.

-believe me when I tell you I love you, and you love me, only me, trust me, believe everything I tell you, I will give you everything-

"I do love you Sakura, I loved you from the moment I saw you." He continues to kiss her neck, slowly moving her farther up onto the futon, sliding his body against hers, running his hand down her arm.

"You love me." she says

"Yes, I love you." He drags his hand down the front of her kimono, through the folds of the fabric and down over her hips. "I have always loved you Sakura."

She sits up, "but how is that possible?"

He can't help it, He sits up with her and Bursts with laughter. "You are are hellcat aren't you my dear, such a strong woman. I really am starting to adore you." He says in truth.

"I am starting to think none of this is real." She swings her legs off the futon and goes to stand up…

-stop-

…..she stops.

-lay back down-

Sakura lays back down where she was before.

-Believe me when I tell you that I love you and that you love me-

He lays back down beside her, "I love you Kura."

She shakes her head, this doesn't feel right.

-Beleive me-

"I love you Sakura."

"Dara, I, I'm confused." She shakes her head.

-Love me-

Green eyes look into his coal ones, "Dara"

"Yes dear?"

How long have we loved one another?"

"Since we met, we both knew, there could be no one else." He smiled and kissed her again

-Very good, good girl-

She smiles.

-I am going to kiss you and I want you to enjoy it, let me hear you enjoy what I do to you-

He leans over and kisses her lips parting them with his tongue and pushing his way inside, biting her bottom lip a little.

She moans a small noise, so slight he almost missed it.

-again, do that again for me-

She moans softly and turns into his kiss, to feel his mouth on her more. She grasps his sleeves on either side of his chest and pulled herself closer to him, turning onto her side to press herself into him.

-you want me don't you, you want me to make you feel good, like that night I watched you touch yourself, that night you moaned my name as you came-

"Daraaa, please." Sakura was begging him

Madara ran his hands up and down her back settling on her obi strings, he untied them letting the belt fall open. Turning her onto her back he pulled off the now loose sash and used it to blind fold her. She started to protest, shaking her head back and forth to get it off…

-You want me to dominate you, you like it when I control you, let me control your body-

...her head stopped moving and a small whimper came from her lips.

As much as he was enjoying himself he wanted it to be more than a dream, he drew her out of her dream, moved back to the chair beside her bed…

-Remember how you feel right now, believe what I have told you. You love me, you belong to me, I love you and we will create peace through war and build the world anew, together-

...and woke her from her sleep.

"Sakura, wake up dear." He stroked her arm to rouse her.

Sakura made a small sound of protest as though she didn't want to wake up but soon her eyes fluttered open and she turned to look at him sitting in a chair by her bed.

"Dara?" She smiled at him, "What are you doing here?"

" I came to wake you from your nap love, it is getting late, you will miss dinner." He gets off the chair and sits down on the bed next to her.

"Dinner? Oh, I'm sorry. Were we going somewhere?" She makes to get off of the bed.

"No, we don't have plans, we can stay in bed if you want?" He leans forward and kisses her, testing it.

"Hhhm, stay in bed hummm." She kisses him back, running her tongue along the seam of his mouth.

Madara slips his arm under her back and lifts her to a sitting position and starts to untie her obi, "Yes, let's stay in bed hum?' He slips both obi and sash from her waist and her kimono falls open a little revealing her wraps and shoulders.

"Yes," She hums into his mouth as he kisses her.


	27. Chapter 27

Itachi met them at the gate of the village of Rain. He stood at the gate and watched their chakra signatures as they came close, stopping outside of view a little ways away.

"I know you're there, come out." Itachi made an effort to stand in the light of a street lamp so they could see him better.

Kakashi popped into view first, then Sasuke, then Yamato.

"Itachi." Kakashi inclined his head.

"We do not have time, I am not a traitor, I am a spy of konoha. I do not expect you to believe me but you can confirm it with the council upon your return with Haruno Sakura." Itachi didn't have time to convince them, he had to go after Madara.

"You, want us to take her back with us?" Sasuke asked skeptical.

"I burned your body after I took your eyes." Itachi said it as a fact. Not a question realization dawning on him. Sakura?

"I have father's eyes now, they tell me it was Sakura's chakra signature on me, she did this for me." Sasuke was staring at his brother.

"She did it." Itachi said to himself quietly. "You must go as soon as I get her to you, I will get her and come back, she will not want to go. Madara, Madara Uchiha is alive, and he did something to her. She must go back with you. You have to find a way to break it." Itachi disappeared.

"Madara Uchiha did what to her?" Sasuke looked at Kakashi.

Kakashi shook his head. He knew as much as Sasuke.

"He said she wouldn't want to come with us, why? Did she get brainwashed?" Yamato speculated.

Before anyone else could take a guess or ask anything else Itachi and Sakura had poofed into existence before them, and she was hitting him and screaming at him to let her go.

Itachi set her down in front of him and turned her to face the small group.

"Go home Sakura." Itachi told her. "Remember, everything I have done, was for you, you and Sasuke." and he was gone.

Sakura was staring at the team before her confused. She shook her head twice.

"Kakashi?" She looked at Kakashi and took a step forward then stopped. She took a step back and stopped as though in deep thought.

"Sakura?" Sasuke started to walk to her. "Are you okay?"

Sakura watched him walk to her , her brow furrowed in concentration. She looked up at him when he had stopped in front of her. Sasuke went to take her hand and she stepped back from him.

"Don't touch me." She said, not in anger or fear just simply.

"Oh, okay. Are you okay?" Sasuke asked her.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" She gave him a curious look.

"You look nice." Sasuke said looking over her kunoichi kimono.

"Uh thanks." She was looking off into the dark behind them as though searching for something.

"Well, I need to get back." and she turned to go back into the village when Kakashi flashed in front of her.

"We are going back to Konoha Sakura, where you belong. You do want to go home right?" He asked her.

"I am home." She told him.

"Yamato tried next, "You are a Konoha nin Sakura, we need to go home." He didn't like what he was seeing.

"I belong with Madara, Madara is here, so I'll stay." She smiled at them.

Kakashi didn't waste any time, he nodded to Sasuke who was now behind Sakura and knocked her out with a swift hit to the side of the neck, Sasuke caught her and lifted her off her feet.

"We need to get her somewhere we can talk to her." Kakashi said. "Let's go."

Kakashi led them back to the forest of Konoha and set down by the river. He decided her and Itachi's cabin was best.

"Sasuke put up the protection seals and check the perimeter." Kakashi motioned to the surrounding area as he took Sakura from his arms.

"Come with me, we need to figure out what is wrong with her." Kakashi motioned for Yamato to follow him inside.

Kakashi set Sakura on the futon, taking the blanket and trying to pat as much dust off of it as possible.

Yamato figured they would be there for awhile and started a fire in the fireplace to ward off the cold, it looked like snow tonight.

Kakashi was reviving Sakura as Sasuke came in and shut the door.

"Did she say she belonged with Madara? Madara Uchiha?" Sasuke was asking the others.

"That's what she said. So he is alive then. I had my doubts." Yamato said from a chair at the table.

The cabin was small to begin with but with all four of them it was tiny.

Sasuke took the other chair and sat across from Yamato, as Kakashi was still sitting on the futon with Sakura.

"Sakura, come on Sakura, time to wake up." He patted her face roughly.

Her eyes opened slowly and she sat up. "Kakashi?" Her hands went to her head, it was starting to hurt.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Kakashi asked her.

"I, where's Madara?" She asked him.

"He isn't here." Kakashi told her.

"Why are you in our cabin?" She asked looking around.

"We thought it best to bring you somewhere familiar, you and Itachi spent a lot of time here." Kakashi hadn't moved since they sat down and was still looking at her rather intensely.

"Ita...it." She stopped. "I never spent time with him here, this is our special place, mine and Madara's, he used to watch me train here since I was 6." She smiled at the memory.

"No, you used to come here with my brother Itachi and you hid it from all of us." Sasuke was getting frustrated.

"Sakura, " Kakashi said carefully, " what is your relationship with Madara?"

"I love him, we are going to create peace, shinobi is a weapon for peace." She says as if it is rehearsed..

"You love him?" Sasuke jumps up, he has heard enough.

"Sit down!" Yamato tells him. "Obviously something has happened to her and we need to find out what, to help her."

Sasuke sits back down slowly but turns to Sakura, "So, how do you like my eyes?" He tries to smile, turn it into a joke.

"Your eyes?" She frowns, She lets a little chakra flow into her eyes and they shine red and spin tomes coming forward.

"Shit." Sasuke and Kakashi echo one another, Yamato is speechless and just stared at her.

"Is that...it can't be, is that...Shisui." Sasuke walks over to the bed and looks at her more closely.

She spins her tomes again and they stop again. "I have Obito's too, like you Kakashi I can do Kamui both short and long. Madara helped me train them."

"Show me." Kakashi says. "Meet me there now." and he lifts his headband from his eye and spins his tome, he disappears and then Sakura disappears.

They reappear in their Kamui, Kakashi jumps to her raised block and takes her hand in his. "Sakura, something has happened to you and we want to help you. Do you remember, here? Can you tell me, did coming here break a genjutsu?"

"I'm not under a genjutsu, I feel fine I'm, I'm ok." She says taking her hand back.

-We are not ok! We are being trapped! This is a fucking joke! I thought you were strong now, not weak anymore! Snap out of it!-

Sakura grabbed her head in her hands and fell to the ground. Kakashi dropped down beside her.

"Sakura, are you ok, what is it?" He asks her.

"Voice, mad, telling me to snap out of it, trapped. I don't know what they are talking about. It hurts." Her hands glow green and she tries to ease the pain growing in her head but it doesn't work.

"Let's go back." Kakashi says and they stand together, tucking her into his side, they leave Kamui.

"Amazing, I can't believe it." Sasuke is still in shock Sakura has a sharingan and can use it, has not only the tomes he had but two more! It almost isn't fair he thinks.

"Sakura, can you show us Shisui's? Did you get his, Kotoamatsukami." Sasuke was almost scared to ask.

"I'm not sure I don't remember, I think so. I remember someone talking to me about it but." she trailed off in thought looking at her hands.

"What was Shisui's abilities?" Yamato asked Sasuke.

"He had Kotoamatsukami , he could control the actions and memories of a target, but not just a target multiple targets it was amazing and dangerous. It was a complete control genjutsu. No one ever broke it, it was so powerful. " Sasuke told them.

"So, he could make someone do something and they would think it was their idea?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah." Sasuke nodded.

"Did Madara have that ability too, it would explain this." Kakashi waved his hand at Sakura.

"No one knew what Madara's other ability was. If they did they never wrote it down or told anyone, it wasn't in the Uchiha archives, I looked. He was a fascination of mine." Sasuke said.

"I'm not under a genjutsu, there isn't anything wrong with me." Sakura kept insisting.

"You know, I remember Itachi telling me that Shisui was particularly dangerous because he could use his Kotoamatsukami, to see your memories but not just regular memories. Hidden ones, or ones sealed, so you didn't reveal information to an enemy if you were caught and interrogated." Sasuke was thinking out loud.

"None of us have the ability to use Kotoamatsukami though. Even if she does know how to use it, she seems to have forgotten and she wouldn't be able to use it on herself would she?" Yamato asked.

"But Itachi's infinite tsukuyomi might help. He controls time and space in there, he could turn back time maybe and try to draw her back to her memories enough to figure out how to fix her?" Sasuke was getting more hopeful

"Ita, Ita, I can't say his name. Why? Who is he again?" She looks at the men around her.

"He is my brother." Sasuke said more concerned than before. He hadn't been sure of their relationship but how could she forget a man that sent her roses and had watched over her almost all her life.

Kakashi grimaced. "He loves you, this was your cabin, you and he spent a lot of time here together. You have been coming here to train in secret and he was your friend, you knew him as Crow."

"Crow." She mumbled and her head started to hurt.

-Yes, Crow, he is your husband, not Madara, Not Madara, Itachi, we love Itachi, he loves you. Madara took you, he raped you, he is controlling you! Snap the fuck out of it now!-

"Stop, stop!" She moans holding her head doubled over in pain.

"What did they say Sakura" Kakashi's sharingan is still activated as he watches her.

"Madara is controlling me, but he isn't, I'm Ita It, his Wife, but I'm not! Madara raped me?" She growls in pain rocking back and forth.

"He what." Kakashi stood up looking down at her, nostrils flaring. Electricity crackles around him. Why hadn't he smelled it on her before, easy his only concern at the time was getting her away.

"Sensei." Sakura whispers.

Kakashi drops down beside her again trying to push back the blood lust.

"Yamato, report to the Hokage, tell him where we are, what we are doing, tell him everything." Kakashi says without looking at him.

"Yes Captain." and he leaves.

"Sakura we need to test your ability to use Kotoamatsukami. Can you try it on me? Make me do something I would never do." Kakashi smiles at her."Nothing too embarrassing ok?"

She nods and focuses her chakra spinning her tomes once her sharingan is activated and focus it.

Kakashi opens his mouth and "I promise to pay for dinner for both of your for the rest of your lives."

"Incredible." Sasuke says. "Kakashi, did you mean to say that?"

Kakashi frowns but says, "Yea, I think I owe you for all the times I stuck you with the bill."

"Sakura, it worked you can do it!" Sasuke didn't know what to say. "Can we help her to remember? We need Itachi don't we?"

"You can't say Itachi's name can you?" Kakashi asks her.

"He doesn't like it, he told me not to, he said I don't belong to him, only him Madara but, I feel like we know each other?" She shakes her head.

"What do we do Kakashi." Sasuke was worried.

"We wait for a response from the Hokage and perhaps Itachi. He will send a crow or come himself to see that she is okay." Kakashi said rubbing his face with his hands.

"I'm going to go outside, I need to breathe and it is stuffy in here." He walks out the door.

"Kakashi." Sakura looks up at him. "Did we, were we, ever together?" She looks away from him then.

-Yes, we were, the copy nin, the cold blooded killer, we kissed him, yes, remember! We are just like him cold blooded killers-

She grit her teeth as pain flooded her head.

"It hurts you, when you remember something real doesn't it Sakura?" He took her hand in his again. "We never dated or had a romantic relationship but I have feelings for you and I think you have feelings for me but...you also have strong feelings for Itachi." Kakashi sighs.

"Kiss me, I want to remember." She does meet his eyes now. "If I felt something for you, maybe it will help, kiss me."

Kakashi leans forward slowly taking her face in his hands, his eyes looking into hers, remember, he thinks, please remember Sakura. His lips lightly touch hers, she parts them, letting him in.

Wet, her mouth is wet and soft, he makes a small noise of content and kisses her fully covering her mouth with his, taking his hands from her face he wraps his arms around her holding her close, pressing his body into hers, feeling her mouth with his tongue, then drawing back slowly, his right hand in her hair, his left pressing her against his chest.

Slowly he draws back from their kiss and sit back in front of her watching her closed eyes flutter open.

"That was real." She says to him a small smile. "Have we, um, did we."

"If I say yes, can we?" He jokes and she slaps him like old times.

"We didn't, but not because I didn't want to. You were confused and weren't sure what you wanted." he gave her a small uplift of his eye, headband back in place.

"What was I confused about?" She asks.

"Your feelings for Itachi, he had left, and you were hurt." Kakashi hoped talking like this would help her to remember. He didn't enjoy speaking with her about her feelings for Itachi but if it would help her remember and figure out what had happened with Madara he would do anything.

"I see." Sounding like she didn't see at all. "Do you mind if I have a moment alone? Just to think?" She motioned to the small cabin and the space around her.

"I'll be right outside with Sasuke." He set her storage scroll on the table, got up and left to join Sasuke by the river. Yamato hadn't come back yet and he was impatient to find out what the Hokage wanted them to do next.

The fire was going strong but she was still a little cold. Shock she thought to herself. She didn't understand how she could have two memories in her head. Kakashi's kiss, she felt like she had kissed him before had felt his hands on her before and that she had wanted him. She at the same time felt that it wasn't true, that she had never kissed him, never let him touch her and that they were just sensei and former student.

Sasuke was a bit more confusing. Something in her made her feel like she used to be really good friends with him but that he hated her and another part said they were really good friends but he wanted to be more. Her head was hurting again.

Sakura got off the futon and went to the table where Kakashi left her storage scroll she assumed that Itachi had given him. She undid the seal and drew out her red hoodie and a few weapons, she didn't have her pack on and didn't know where it was but there were pockets sewn into her obi.

Distracted by her thoughts, that there was a whole time period missing from her memory she knicked her thumb on a kunai. Sticking it in mouth she shook out her red hoodie and a small little bird fell out of its pocket. She bent down reaching for it with her bloody thumb and picked it up. Blood blotted the white of the clay bird and she tsked at herself for dirtying it.

She set the bird on the futon and turned to grab a cloth to wrap her thumb so she didn't bleed all over the place and there was a small explosion behind her. She spun around kunai in hand and saw Deidara, sitting on the futon.

"Deidara? What, THE BIRD! I remember! It is a reverse summons!" She smiled at him, both at seeing him and that she remembered.

"Kura! We were so worried Konan and I, where did you go?" he looked around," Where are we? Where is Madara?"

Kakashi and Sasuke burst through the door at this point and Sakura stepped in front of Deidara arms flung wide.

"He isn't our enemy!" She scolded them. "I summoned him here, he is here because I called him."

Kakashi and Sasuke gave one another a look and slowly dropped their stances but Sasuke and Kakashi's eyes both still spun red as they watched Deidara.

"I'm just glad Kura is okay yeah, I'm not here to fight ok." He held his hands up.

"You call her Kura?" Sasuke growled, Kakashi agreed.

"Well yeah, we are friends hey." Deidara turned back to Sakura. "What happened after I left you in your room? All I know is I left you in your room when you started to fall asleep on my couch and then 3 hours later I feel this surge of intense dark chakra from Itachi, massive compared to earlier when you had your lover's spat and then I hear you screaming! I raced downstairs and met Konan racing up from the kitchen and we are banging on your door hearing Madara say some explicitly sexual things to you. Did he, are you okay? Did he...hurt you?"

"I don't, wait. I remember being in your room watching TV but, then I think I fell asleep. I don't remember anything but wait, there was a forest, with trees huge trees the first hokage had made in a cave ...an underground forest." She shakes her head, "Maybe I was dreaming."

-he sat in your dressing chair while you slept, I could sense him there, he watched you sleep then lay on the bed with you listening to you make noise and he would smell your hair and touch you.-

"No." Sakura moaned, her head was killing her again.

Kakashi saw she was in pain and knew she was fighting something or remembering something again.

"Sakura, what , what do you remember what did you hear/" He asked her.

"Madara, in my chair, I was sleeping, my dreams, he touched me, I don't know." She sat down on the futon beside Deidara and he took her in his arms and hugged her but let go quickly as Kakashi grabbed his arm and pulled him off the futon to sit in a chair at the tale.

"Okay okay yeah." Deidara looked back at Sakura. "She called me here remember."

"Tell us why she was with the Akatsuki." Sasuke sat down in the other chair , Kakashi had taken Deidara's spot on the bed.

So he did, he told them how she had arrived with Itachi, had her own room that was nicer than his, went shopping with konan and Tobi, how Itachi had been training her but didn't let anyone watch, how they had a huge fight and I tachi had taken off after slamming her to the ground, that he had helped her to his room where they drank tea and relaxed then he laid her on her bed when she had fallen asleep but that Itachi hasn't answered his door when he knocked on it.

He told them about the dark chakra again, Sakura screaming and what Madara had been saying to her, hoe he and Konan had ran through the door once Konan had gotten it open and they saw Sakura on the bed blindfolded with her arms tied behind her back and Madara pulling out of her as Itachi broke the window to get into the room.

"He blindfolded her and tied her hands behind her back? She was...was she naked?" Kakashi choked out, fury engulfing him.

"Yes." Deidara looked down.

"Itachi couldn't get into the room before?" Sasuke asked.

"No, he had been trying but wasn't able." Deidara said.

"It was on purpose, Madara set it up so Itachi would see, could hear what he was doing to her." Kakashi growled teeth clenched.

"How do you know that?" Deidara asked huffing.

"It is what I would have done if I wanted to alienate her from Itachi. If I had used a powerful mind control jutsu on her, I would want her to only remember me and no one else I knew her to be involved with." Kakashi admitted.

Sakura had been deathly quiet through Deidara's speech.

"Impossible, how could I not know?" She looked at them bewildered.

"He didn't want you to." Kakashi tried to point out kindly to her. "I can feel Yamato making his way back let's see what the Hokage has to say."

"And him?" Sasuke points to Deidara.

"Uh well if it's all the same to you, I'll be going yeah. Sakura, be safe I'll talk to you soon I hope?" He hugged her and before they could stop him he poofed

Yamato knocked once and entered. He looked grim as he held out an official mission scroll to Sakura.


	28. Chapter 28

It seemed simple enough. Sakura would have an unofficial meeting with Inoichi and see if he could break the genjutsu hold Madara had on her through her own mind and memories. If he could bring enough of her real memories to the surface maybe she would remember on her own but more quickly than if she were left to her own devices.

The Hokage also sent for Itachi. If Inoichi was unable to help her recall her real memories then Itachi would use his Tsukiyomi to try to fight Madara's genjutsu, Minato knew that is what it was, with his own genjutsu.

Yamato had told the Hokage all that he could all that he had heard and remembered. Minato had his own spies that had been watching Sakura and Itachi over the years and all the pieces fell into place.

Sakura sat in a chair in the middle of an open room. She was not a prisoner, this was not an interrogation so there were no restraints, no drugs, she just sat there waiting for Inoichi to finish tell her what they were doing, how to relax her mind and to let him in.

She nodded once he was done and he placed his hand on her forehead and she fell limp. Inoichi saw Sakura crying in the park, the crow fly away, her in the library, her trying to master jutsu on her own, her spying on kakashi, kakashi watching her practice her jutsu, the crow talking to her, her teleportinginto the lake, sasuke following her, sakura mastring two of the seconds jutsu, her inner voice talking to her, her blood lust, her rage and killing intent, itachi turning into his human form, the inn at the village, deidara kissing her, kakashi in bed with her, sasuke holding her, Naruto attacking Konoha, sasuke getting burned by Itachi's fireball jutsu, Itachi carrying her to Rain, Itachi training her in Kamui, Itachi training her with Shisui's eyes, Madara as tobi, Itachi and Sakura argueeing, Madara in her room beside her bed pressing a hand over her heart, a waterfall, cave, underground forest, a cabin by an underground waterway, Madara fucking her, sealing her chest with a concentrated chakra through her back, Itachi breaking the window, her with her team running back to Konoha.

Inoichi took his hand from her head. "Shit."

He turned to Minato who had been standing by watching. "She has been sealed and is under an unknown genjutsu. I think it is a mind warping genjutsu that can only be utilized when someone sleeps and it controls their dreams. We need to break the seal but I don't know how. It was done with Madara Uchiha's own concentrated chakra."

"It is worse than I thought but I think it can be done." Minato hadn't been married to an Uzumaki and learned nothing of seals. He had to do this right though, he didn't want to draw the seal out and do further damage to her mind.

"Show me what you saw." Minato told Inoichi.

Inoichi stepped up to his Hokage and placed his hand on his forehead and let his chakra flow into the Hokage revealing all that he saw.

Minato sat down in a chair by Sakura after Inoichi had shown him her memories and what had happened.

"We need to help her regain her mind, she is remarkable, so much talent and her eyes now, she is stronger than me." Minato was amazed.

'I have to do a little research, this is as you know an unusual situation. I have some scrolls at home about rare seals I want to look at before I try to draw her seal out or try to break it. In the meantime Itachi Uchiha is expected to return to Konoha in the next few hours. He will try his own Uchiha way to help her regain her mind, I will meet him at a prearranged location. See that he is not harassed, it is not time to reveal the truth yet but soon we will welcome him back to Konoha where he belongs." Minato flashed out of the room.

Sakura continued to sit there in the chair, the mind invasion had worn her out.

"I'll get Kakashi for you, he can take you back to your cabin, it is best if you stay out of view for now till The Hokage can take care of your seal." Inoichi tried to say kindly to her.

"You mean , so I can be watched because I am a threat with an unknown seal on me by a crazed maniac killer Uchiha." She said.

"Yes." He replied.

Thirty minutes later she was in Kakashi's arms and they were jumping through the trees back to her cabin. Her fists were bunched up in the front of his vest and he hopped from tree to tree, her head turned into his chest as she cried. The emotions that had flooded her mind while Inoichi has pulled the memories from her had overwhelmed her. She didn't know what was real, she was having a hard time concentrating on any one thing at a time and her head hurt, a dull throbbing that hadn't left her and only seemed to get worse as they left the interrogation department.

"Kakashi, Sakura called to him over the rush of wind as he ran with her,"Kakashi stop for a moment please."

He landed on the next tree and stopped looking down at her. "You okay, feeling a bit sick, Inoichi tried to be gentle but it isn't a gentle procedure."

"Do you, do you love me Kakashi? I feel like I'm missing something, something important. I think it has to do with you, us. Do you love me?" She looked to his face trying to find any hint of denial or confirmation but his face was blank and almost, in pain?

"Yes." and he continued on to her cabin with her in his arms hugging her close. She had never told him she loved him back, had never told him she cared for him at all in a romantic way. If that was even possible, their relationship wasn't romantic, not in the common way. He was a killer, she was a killer. What would they even have together if she did want him over Itachi, he wondered. Lust, blood? Was it right for him to even think of her as his. He could only offer her more blood and death...and maybe devotion, but was that enough.

They landed outside by the river, Sasuke was sitting by the big rock and nodded to them as they set down.

"Itachi is coming I can feel him." He told them

Sakura had felt a chakra approaching but hadn't said anything, they were by the village afterall. The chakra had been familiar but non threatening and she had simply ignored it but now, she knew, it was Itachi.

He landed as a crow on the ground at her feet and morphed back into a man before she could blink.

"Crow." She looked at him.

"Weasel." He said.

Their Anbu names, she remembered. It seems the genjutsu they said she must be under had taken more than they all realized. It seemed she had lost more of her memories than just certain people or was it that the person she was made to forget was such a large part of her life. Her head hadn't stopped throbbing but now it almost seared with pain.

She stood before him wincing and holding her head.

Itachi took her chin in his hand and his eyes bled red tomes spinning, "Look at me."

She looked up into his eyes and they were taken into his Tsukiyomi. They stood as they had by the river facing one another her chin in his hand and he leaned forward and kissed her. She pushed against him but her pulled her into him, "Remember" and kissed her again and more and deeper.

"Crow," She broke away from his kiss.

"Wife." He called her.

"I don't remember being your wife."

"We were not married for more than a day before Madara violated our union, before I lost my control and pushed you away. The blame is mine. I will not ask you to forgive me, but there are things that have happened that you don't understand but I know you can fix. I will show you, about our past, the Uchiha's past. You are my wife, it is our family's past." Itachi turned her and light faded away.

It was like a movie playing out in front of her, images floating in the air. Itachi was a small boy walking in the park, he saw her crouched over on the ground and stepping behind a tree he morphed into the crow and flew to the park bench beside her and watched her cry. Another fading of light and they were at the academy, she was being picked on again and she punched the ugly girl in the face telling her not to judge what she didn't understand. Sauke and Itachi , fishing off the dock together, clearly having a good time, smiling at the water and at each other. Shisui and Itachi by the cliff, Shisui falling back over the side, Itachi's eyes spinning, fade…

…..Itachi crying as he cut down Uchiha after Uchiha, tears in his eyes. Standing over his father as he knelt in front of him telling him to do it, that it was okay, it was for the good of the village. His mother smiling at him telling him she loved him and that it was a sacrifice for the good of all. Itachi taunting Sasuke with lies making him hate him.

Sakura sleeping in the grass by the river, worn out from training too hard as he leaned over the water beside her cleaning the blood from his hands, stripping his clothes and throwing them into the river. Him carrying her inside and laying her on the futon kissing her forehead. The years and memories floated by passing over her eyes like smoke, making her eyes tear up and her head hurt.

The last memory, Itachi and Sakura in their cabin, making love to one another, becoming husband and wife before they left for Rain.

A pain, a searing burning pain shot through her heart and she fell to the ground. Itachi took them from his Tsukiyomi.

Sakura sat up on the futon and looked around wildly , her hair in her face, her heart aching.

"Itachi." She whispered, "Itachi, I remember."

"What do you remember?" He was sitting beside her holding her hand.

"I remember everything, my husband." and she threw her arms around him clutching his chest tears running down her face, "I'm so sorry."I'm sorry, please forgive me."

-Finally! Now let's make all this right, you know what we have to do-

Itachi took a deep breath and held her close, his heart had been breaking and now, it hurt but it was a healing hurt, a hurt he could live with. They had so much to talk about so much to discuss but for now, in this moment , he just wanted to hold her to him.

"Welcome back Sakura ." Minato said from a chair by the table.

"Hokage Sama." She smiled at him.

"So Sakura chan, feel up to taking a small trip for us?" Minato winked at her.

"I'm already planning it in my head." She smiled back.

It was an instant in their world but 4 years in hers. She had used her Kotoamatsukami combined with her Kamui and her seal on her forehead to go back in time. First she saved Minato from dying of the Nine Tailed Fox sealing by healing him as she pulled him from it's claw. Kushina had already died before she could break the barrier he had put up and the Nine Tails had already been sealed inside Naruto.

Sakura moved forward in time from there and killed Danzo before he could take Shisui's eye, the shock and revelation of events still caused Itachi to activate his Mangekyou so she left to move forward to stop Orochimaru from fleeing the Leaf. She used her monstrous strength to demolish his secret lab revealing all his heinous crimes to the village, he was executed publicly two days later.

Naruto was saved because Sasuke never abandoned them to look for more power from Orochimaru. She wasn't sure how this would affect her current time line but she would give up everything to see her boys both back and safe again even if changed a bit by the changes she made in the past.

She dropped down in front of their cabin nervous as to what she might find. She walked to the front door and it opened. Just as her hand reached fr the knob.

"Sakura, you're back." Itachi smiled at her like she had never seen before. "We were waiting for you."

"Not that long lover boy." A curly hair Uchiha smiled at her from a large table in the large room.

"Shisui? But how, and the cabin, Itachi, it is so large, what?" She got out before she was blindsided by orange.

"Kura ! Kura! I have missed you so much!" Naruto was hugging and crushing her to his body.

"Easy there idiot she just got back and probably needs to work through all the changes , she doesn't need you hanging off her right now." Sasuke hugged her.

"I don't understand, you all know? How do you know?" She was gawking at them she realized and quickly shut her mouth.

Kakashi came up to her now, "It is a part of history, in the Hokage archives. It was all written down, Minato wrote out everything he thought you would and could do, how you would do it and sealed it with a time seal he had learned from Kushina. Your deeds were written like a story for us all to read."

Kakashi seemed different, kinder, his eyes had a more gentle quality to them, and he looked...happy.

"Obito is alive, Rin never jumped in front of my Chidori." He noticed her scrutiny.

"Thank you Sakura." He hugged her in a rib crushing hug.

"Thank you Sakura." Minato came into the cabin, "Sorry I'm late."


End file.
